When The Galaxies Crossed
by Mashlie Needs Some Benadryl
Summary: AvengerWhoLock: The Avengers are fighting someone bad. They don't know who or what. So they've made a dimension canon to bring them every person in any universe who can aid them in defeating it. The Doctor's furious that they ripped a hole in the universe for their petty needs. People keep showing up out of nowhere. How many people did they bring? And who didn't they mean to bring?
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: The Sherlock part is set after Reichenbach and (obviously) it's when Sherlock's back. The Doctor Who parts take place sometime in between seasons 5 and 6 and sometime after Blink, but before Utopia. The Avengers part is set after the movie, except Phil is alive (Yay!). Sorry if you find the first Sherlock part boring/disgusting. I promise it gets better.  
Disclaimer: I don't and never will own Doctor Who, Sherlock, or the Avengers (sadly). That was pretty apparent, but I felt it was necessary to inform the public. :)**

* * *

John walked into the kitchen, thoroughly disgusted by what his flatmate was concocting. Eyeballs in jars and preservatives of liver were set everywhere in every manner. That skull Sherlock was quite fond of sat atop a stack of books, poised in a manner that made its eye sockets seem to follow John around the room.

John opened the refrigerator, hesitantly, unsure of what he would discover in there. He flinched as a bloody finger sat on one of his fine china plates, smack in the center of the shelf.

"Don't be such as girl, John." Sherlock said dully from across the kitchen. He held up a clear bowl full of mysterious reddish liquid, leveling it with his eyes. "It's just a little experiment of mine."

John rolled his eyes and closed the refrigerator door, knowing Mrs. Hudson definitely wouldn't be happy with the detective this time. "Of course it is. I was just wondering if we had any jam left." he trailed off, pausing for the answer.

Sherlock didn't look up from his work. He simply pointed a long bony finger over to what seemed to John to be some sort of internal organ smeared with his jam. John scowled, "Great." he sighed, "Oh, that reminds me," he perked up a bit and walked back over to the living room. "Here." he held out a book to Sherlock.

Sherlock looked up and craned his neck to read the words right-side-up. The title read: _A Beginner's Guide To Astronomy_. He pulled away slightly, as if disgusted that John would even think to get this for him. Or, John thought, he could be flinching away from the word _beginner_. This made the corners of John mouth turn up slightly, but it wasn't a true smile. "What is that for?" Sherlock demanded. He sounded just as disgusted as he looked.

"Well, I know you don't know much about it so..." he trailed off. The way his friend was looking at him made him slightly embarrassed. Maybe he shouldn't have gotten him the book. His eyes fell to the floor and the old soldier shifted uncomfortably on his feet.

Sherlock groaned, "So what? I solved the case, _didn't I_?"

"Just read it, it's good knowledge to have." John said quietly, eyes not leaving the floor.

"I-" Sherlock started again, but was cut off by John's cell phone.

"Hello?" John said, holding a finger up for Sherlock to pause as he answered it. He was secretly glad the phone had cut the conversation short. After a series of "Mhm"-s and "I see"-s and a final, "Okay, we'll be right over." John turned back to his partner. "It was Lestrade. He needs us. Read the book, will you?" That last sentence popped out with more force than he realized he used.

Sherlock rolled his eyes. "Fine," he agreed. He knew he could talk his way out of it, but thought he might as well please his friend for once, seeing the trouble be went through to get it, and Sherlock owed him for Reichenbach. "But I don't see why. It's not like there's anything out there."

* * *

Amy leaned against a coral column of the TARDIS. "Where are we going, Doctor?" she asked curiously. She moved over to the console, where she peered over the Doctor's shoulder.

"Anywhere you'd like really," he replied. "I haven't got plans. And is just me or is it hot in here?"

"_Haha_." Amy laughed sarcastically. "You think your hot jokes are funny?" She put on her best man voice. "I'm the Doctor. Is it hot in here? Oh wait, it's just me!"

The Doctor furrowed his brow. "Uh, I wasn't going to, er, do that... I really think it's hot..." he trailed off awkwardly.

Amy rolled her eyes, but secretly she felt awkward too. "_Sure_ you weren't." she said.

They would have continued on with the the conversation ignoring Amy's ... misreadings, the TARDIS groaned. It wasn't a happy groan or an upset groan. It didn't sound too healthy to Amy. The ground beneath them began to shake violently. Amy grasped desperately for the edge of the console. The trembling grew more intense with each waking moment. Sparks exploded from the devices on the console and from various spots around the room. Rory, who had been completely unprepared for the sudden lurch of the once steady ground, was attempting to regain his composure from his sprawled out position on the floor. "Doctor?!" Amy called, not caring how much desperation creeped into the word.

Rory had followed her lead and called out to the Doctor as well, however the Doctor ignored them both. He was frozen for a second, crumpled into an awkward heap on the floor. A second that seemed like hours. His eyes were wide and filled with some emotion Amy could not identify. Suddenly, the Doctor shook his head roughly, like he was clearing away all the frivolous thoughts that clouded his mind. "Doctor, do something!" Amy cried.

"There's nothing I can d-" the Doctor started to say, but was cut off. There was a flash of completely blinding white that filled the whole TARDIS. At first, Amy was afraid a spark of electricity had blinded her, but in actuality, the whole TARDIS had been drenched in blinding white light. The light was accompanied by a strange numbness that overcame every aspect of Amy's body. She couldn't hear, see, smell, or feel anything.  
Within moments, however, the light and the numbness were both gone. Amy realized she was laying on the floor of the TARDIS. She tried to sit up, but was overwhelmed by dizziness and a intense headache. "Doctor?" she groaned.  
The Doctor was at her side immediately and helped her sit up. "Are you alright?" he asked, though he himself did not seemed to be fazed by this frightening experience.  
"Fine, I guess." she said groggily. "Where's Rory?" She looked around, but there was no sign of her husband.  
A sudden urgency came upon her as the Doctor furrowed his brow. "Mhm, not quite sure." was all he said. Amy jumped up, ignoring the headache that bombarded her brain.  
"Where could he be?" she demanded. "What happened? He was right here! Where could he have gone? Rory!" She ran to the back rooms of the TARDIS. "Rory?" she called again. He had to be there somewhere, she thought. He couldn't have just poofed off to somewhere else. "Doctor, where is he?"

The Doctor followed Amy through the TARDIS. "I'm not sure. From what I can see, something brought the Tardis here. I'm not sure what and I'm not sure why, but it might not have needed Rory." Seeing the hurt and worry in Amy's eyes, he quickly finished up, "That probably means he was just left behind. Meaning he's safe." he concluded. He then lowered his voice and said, "I'm just not so sure about us."

* * *

Greg Lestrade squatted down to inspect the bank vault for what felt to him like the hundredth time that hour. He had called up John for him and Sherlock to come over. He even admitted to John he couldn't find any leads on this one. But of course, Sherlock could find one in seconds. He tried to take in all the details, but nothing popped out at him. He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, before straightening up.

He walked over to Anderson. "I don't think it's anything too big." Anderson was saying to Sergeant Sally Donovan. "No connections to any other cases, I mean."

"Wrong." Every head in the room turned to the doorway. Sherlock waltzed right in. "Very wrong, indeed."

"Well, if it isn't the freak show." Donovan remarked rudely. "Finally decided to show up, did you?"

"What do you mean: _wrong_?" Lestrade asked, ignoring Donovan as he fell into stride with the consulting detective who was heading towards the bank's now-empty vault.

"Anderson, of course," Sherlock said like it was so obvious. "What are you, Anderson, _blind_?" he said, catching the other man's attention. "Of course there's a connection. The Weldon Cases ring a bell? This has him written all over it. No fingerprints. _Anywhere_. And did anyone notice the little GW carved into the floor? Or the clock that is two minutes fast? It's just like the two other cases. Do any of you have brains?"

"Now, Sherlock, don't be rude." John said, coming up next to him, but all his reprimanding had yielded was an eye roll from Sherlock.

John had heard most of what Sherlock had said and found it surprising that Lestrade's team had completely missed all of that. He unzipped his jacket. The temperature in the room seemed to be rising by the second. "But weren't the last two cases homicides? I don't think Weldon has robbed before." He felt a trickle of sweat on his brow. Why was it so hot? It was the dead of winter!

"The temperature has risen significantly since we've entered the room." Sherlock said, ignoring John's question completely. "I'd say it's at least ten degrees warmer."

"Mhm," he replied. So his friend had noticed it too. What did this mean, though? Sherlock wouldn't have noticed had it not been important. "So what then?" he asked, unable to see how it was relevant.  
"Not sure yet. I-" Sherlock began to reply, but stopped short. "The ground's shaking." he observed rather quietly.  
"What?" John asked. He hadn't heard what he had said, but realized the same thing for himself in the next few moments. The ground beneath them began to quake. An earthquake? John thought. In London? He didn't have anymore time to question it.  
"Get in a doorway." Sherlock said sternly, heading for one himself. John stood in the nearest one. He remembered somewhere he learned that a doorway is the strongest structure so that's where one should go during an earthquake.  
But suddenly, it became more than an earthquake. Everything went white. Panicked, John brought his hands up to his face. Although, in an attempt to do so, he realized he was numb. Nothing was working. "Sherlock!" he tried to called out, but his voice was stuck with fear. Panic shot through him faster than adrenaline. The defensively soldier side of him came out. He tried to ready himself and his useless limbs for an attack with no avail. Besides, for all he knew this could be the attack. Or he could be dead. Suddenly, it felt like he had been slugged in the gut, and everything came back.

* * *

"Welcome to the 51st century!" the Doctor said, beaming as they exited the TARDIS. He spread his arms out wide, gesturing at everything at once, letting his companion take it all in. "5023."  
Martha Jones smiled and took a deep breath, letting it all sink in. They were in a large room. The wall were made of glass which looked into the rooms next door. The transparent ceiling revealed a starry night sky, darkening blue because it seemed to be pretty early. "Are we on Earth?" she asked.  
"No," he replied. "Over it I think. In a passenger spaceship, for lack of a better term. This is the year Jack is from. Ah, I just love this year. Really good hairstyles. Oh, and Gregor Hamsel is going to make a car travel at the speed of light, this year. A car, can you believe it?" he started to bring her up to speed on the pop-culture, advances in technology and medicine, and history. "Mhm, and you _have _to try the food. Mwah!" he kissed his finger then threw them in the air. This made Martha smile. They walked into the neighboring room. Martha noticed the hairstyles were a bit 'out there', but she understood why the Doctor was so fascinated by them.  
They got in line at a food stand up against the wall. The walls were transparent here too and Martha could see right into space. The man at the stand, whose hair was electric green and spiked in several places, asked her what she would like. She hesitated. She didn't really know what she liked in the fifty first century. She took a breath to answer, but something else beat her to it. That something being the ground trembling.  
A gasp filled the room, and a few people were knocked to the ground. Someone announced over the intercom, "Will everyone please stay calm we are simply going through some turbulence, nothing to worry about. But because of safety precautions, it is advised you return to your seat and buckle up."  
Everyone began to file out the door, a quiet murmur hovering over the group. Martha glanced at the Doctor, "What do we do?"  
The Doctor shrugged, "We could investigate if you'd like."  
"Oh, Doctor, you know me too well." she flashed him one of her gleaming white smiles and started off.  
That's when the shaking became rougher. It easily knocked Martha off her feet. The shaking grew more and more rough until even the Doctor looked scared. "Martha, we need to get out of here." he said, sternly.  
Martha followed his line of vision to the glass wall. It was the only thing that separated them from outer space and Martha noticed a crack. A hairline fracture, but a crack all the same. She didn't protest. Although the trembling threw them around, they tried their best to get back to the TARDIS. "Doctor!" Martha cried. The ground seemed to slant. They were falling. Into the shattering glass wall. Martha screamed and shut her eyes, just as everything was coated in white.

* * *

**Author's Note: I figured you could make out what happens after that and it's sort of a cliff hanger. Where did they all go? Where's Rory? What will happen next? It will get better I promise! Please leave reviews. I would love to know what my readers think! Any recommendations or request of things to put in the story? I will consider everything!**


	2. Chapter 2

"Well, the only way to get back to Rory is to look outside." Amy said. The Doctor nodded in silent agreement. They had discovered that the TARDIS had been damaged by getting sucked into this weird new place. The Doctor observed whoever had brought them here weren't in any significant hurry to get Amy and himself out of the Tardis because it had been at least an hour and there had been no demands from the other side of the door. In that time, they hadn't done much. Amy made him promise her Rory was alright, which she was ready to hold him to and they had jumped to several conclusion that weren't supported by very much evidence anyway.  
The Doctor and Amy were both fed up with sitting around wait for something to happen. Both very headstrong, waiting around was not their thing and wasn't going to go on for much longer. The Doctor made his way over to the door. He placed a hand on the handle and pulled the door open. They both peeked their heads out, warily, when there was no apparent threat. "Hm, well then, we've just wasted an hour hiding in a box from nothing." the Doctor said, opening the door all the way and waltzing out.  
Amy hesitated a moment, looking around. There had to be something out there. They were in some sort of laboratory. There was no way everyone could have missed a giant Police Box popping up right smack in the center if it. Especially with the sloppy fashion in which they ungracefully arrived. The Doctor turned back to her, "Coming, Pond?"  
Just then, someone appeared out of nowhere, roughly grabbing the Doctor. She had a head of fiery red hair and wore a black leather jumpsuit. She held the Doctor firmly, gun pressed against his neck, eyes trained on Amy. The Doctor cleared his throat, "Excuse me, but I'm rather uncomfortable." he said politely.  
"Who are you people?" she demanded. She was obviously American.  
"Well, I'm the Doctor, and this is Amy. We're time travelers. And who might you be?"

* * *

Martha could've sworn she was dead. She had probably fallen through the glass into space and died. For a moment there was nothing, but then it came back. She heard breathing. She was only slightly aware of her own, but this was defined and close. Well, she thought, it might not hurt to open her eyes. Just to see what's outside. Hoping she was in heaven rather than hell, she dared to pull her heavy eyelids apart. Blue. Clouds. That must be the sky, she thought. The intense shine of the sun blinded her, and she squeezed her eyes closed once more. Alive? What kind of trick had the Doctor pulled this time? Or maybe it was all a dream. Why would she be asleep outside, anyway? She didn't recall anything like falling asleep that would lead her to believe she had been dreaming. It was real, she decided. But then how did she escape? Why did the ship go all haywire in the first place? Was the Doctor alright?  
This question drove her to open her eyes again. If the Doctor was in trouble, she had to go help him. The sunshine stung her eyes and moving a single bone in her body ached more than running five marathons. She winced silently and squinted to let her eyes adjust. She rolled over with great effort onto her stomach. The ground under her was grass. She was outside. She got into a sitting position before focusing on what she was doing: locating the Doctor. That's when she noticed him laying right next to her. He looked pretty roughed up and everything was askew, but thankfully she heard faint breathing. Her medical skill kicked in and she crawled over to him. She check to be sure both hearts were beating, then gently took him by the shoulders. "Doctor," she cooed softly as she shook him. "Doctor, wake up."  
She heard a low moan. His lips parted slightly and he took in a deep breath. His eyes fluttered open. "Hello there, Martha." he said, groggily. "May I ask what the heck happened?" He let out a rugged cough and sat up.  
"I don't know," she admitted. "I thought we were dead, but here we are." She looked around, realizing she didn't even know exactly _where_ they were. It was a clearing in what seemed to be the woods. Martha could've sworn she spotted a city poking out just above the treetops. The sky was blue and almost cloudless, save a small white one that drifted alone. A bright sun beat down on the pair relentlessly.  
"Huh, interesting." the Doctor said, shakily standing, but standing nonetheless. Martha followed his lead and brought herself to her feet, no steadier than the Doctor. "Is that a city over there?" he asked, pointing to the treetops where Martha spotted a city too.  
"I think so." she said, shading her eyes from the sun and squinting to make it out. "Are we gonna go there?"  
"Yup." he said, already a couple paces ahead.  
She jogged to catch up with his head start. "So what happened? Any theories?"  
"I'm working on it."

* * *

"I said _who are you_?" the woman looked like she was already losing her patience, which wasn't too good for the Doctor who was still being held at gunpoint.  
Amy tried to stay calm and talk fast. "My name's Amy Pond." She flashed the other woman a quick smile.  
"Who are you? Spies?" was her next question. This felt to Amy like rapid fire. She _hated_ rapid fire.  
"Actually, we sort of just showed up here. We don't know how, and we most definitely don't know why." She was telling the truth, but this woman didn't look like the type to believe a story like theirs.  
To Amy's surprise, the woman's eyes softened from a penetrating stare of hatred to understanding. "Oh, then come with me." She released the Doctor, and he fell to the floor in a heap. The woman started to walk away. She put the gun back, but Amy noticed her keep a hand at ready. Amy followed the woman, thinking it was the best way not to get shot. The Doctor scowled and picked himself up.  
The woman led them out of the laboratory area and into a large room. It held a long conference table. At the head of the table, standing over the chairs, was a burly black man with a long leather trench coat and an intimidating eyepatch. Amy made sure her face was neutral, or at least focused on observing the room. Anything other than intimidated.  
"Who are they?" he asked. His deep, husky, American voice went well with his appearance well. "You know well security deals with break-ins, Romanoff." He gave her a stern look that didn't seem to faze her.  
"I think they're products of the _experiment_." the woman, supposedly called Romanoff, replied, totally ignoring the fact they were still in the room.  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Amy cut in. "What _experiment_?"  
Again, Romanoff ignored her, "They said they don't know how or why they came here."  
"Do you think it work? It's busted so..."  
"What's busted?" the Doctor asked. He took a daring step forward. Romanoff whipped out her gun and pointed it at him. Unlike most of the other foes they faced, Romanoff seemed to be perfectly willing to shoot the Doctor. It seemed like a second nature to her. The Doctor put his hands up in surrender. "You know, I really hate it when people use guns." he said. "I can help with whatever's busted."  
The man with the eyepatch smiled at him, as if amused by what he said. "Who are you? A scientist? You must be really smart. You are of the elite."  
The Doctor eyed the other man carefully. "What do you mean 'elite'? How did we get here?"  
"All in good time. Now, I'm Director Fury. Who are you?"

* * *

Rory rubbed the bump on his head. It was the size of a watermelon and hurt like heck. The first thing that came to mind was Amy. Was she alright? She had seemed fine during the shaking, but then there was that big flash of light and... Rory didn't even want to think about what happened. All he could do was focus on the present. He was in some sort of alleyway. There was no sign of the TARDIS or Amy and the Doctor. They wouldn't have abandoned him. Maybe they had gotten lost or... he had no clue, maybe the TARDIS just went berserk on it's own. There must have been some sort of eject button that flung him out. Had it done the same to the others? Was Amy okay?

He decide he should probably get up and do something. He could look for Amy, she had to be in the vicinity. The alleyway was off of a main road in a city. He didn't know which city, but it was a bit too dirty to be London. He exited the alleyway to a street bustling with people, trying so hard to get where they were going, they knocked into half of the rest of the people. Definitely not London. "Excuse me," Rory said to one man who was passing in front of him. "Where am I?"  
The man scowled like it was so hard to give him at least a name. "The street sign's right there, you moron." An American accent for sure. He nodded over in a vague direction and kept going. Huh, Rory had never been to America before. They definitely made great first impressions. He started off in the direction of where the man nodded, not daring to ask anyone else. Something around here had to give it away, he thought. That's when a big Double Decker bus flew down the street. It read: _The Big Apple Bus Tours_. New York? Great, he thought, just great.

Rory found himself sucked into the flow of traffic. He decided it would be best for him to go somewhere. Maybe find the Doctor and Amy along the way. He slipped out of the crowd the first chance he had. He opened the door to a bar. Not the place he had been hoping for, but it was fine. the air hung around him in a thick cloud of humidity. It reminded him of the night before he got married. He smiled at that thought. He walked over to the bartender. "Hey, I'm pretty lost. Mind telling me where I am?"

The man laughed, "Me too. But don't worry, you're still in New York, buddy."

"Have you by any chance seen a ginger? Or a guy with a bowtie?" he asked. "They're friends of mine."

"Sorry, no, but I'll keep an eye out. So, can I get you something?"

"Just a beer." Rory took a seat, before realizing he had no money on him. "Wait, I take that back. Nevermind."

"What? No money?" the guy said. "Have it on the house. I was in a position like that, too, a couple months back."

"Really? Thanks." Rory said.

"So how'd you get here anyways?" the bartender said, getting him his drink.

"I sort of just... showed up." Rory said, not really sure how much he could say. "It's all pretty fuzzy."

The man leaned in closer, furrowing his brow. "What do you mean, 'showed up'?" he lowered his voice. "Was it by any chance, the room getting hot, mini earthquake, big flash of light, kind of 'show up'?"

Rory jerked his head back in surprise. Had this guy just said what he thought he said? It happened to him too. "How did you..." he trailed off, amazed. "Who are you?"

"Captain Jack Harkness. Nice to meet you."

* * *

The man, Nick Fury, had ordered one of his secretaries in the other room to call in 'them'. Amy hadn't the slightest idea who (or what, she had begun to ask herself since she started travelling with the Doctor) 'them' were. She got her answer soon enough. "What is it now?" said the first man as he walked in. He had dark hair and was wearing sunglasses.  
"Take a seat, Tony." Nick Fury said sternly.  
Tony took off his glasses with one quick motion, so the other man could clearly see him roll his eyes. He sat down next to Amy, wearing the most bored expression ever. He was promptly followed by a blonde guy who sat down right next to him. Both men were very buff and rather attractive. Without thinking, Amy positioned herself to flirt. Tony glanced at her unamused and the blonde guy cleared his throat awkwardly, so she quickly straightened. She didn't notice in her embarrassment that the Doctor was stifling a laugh in the chair behind her. After Tony and the blonde guy, came in another dark haired man with a purple button down shirt and a man who looked rather ridiculous to Amy because he wore all leather and held a bow with a sheath of arrows strapped to his back.  
Once every had taken their seat, the blonde guy next to Tony remarked, "Where's Thor?"  
"He said he got caught up with something." Romanoff answered.  
Tony smirked, "Yeah, 'cause being a god makes him so much better than the rest of us."  
"It kind of does." the guy with the bow and arrow said.  
"Okay." Nick said loudly, cut off all the small talk. He smiled, "Our experiment worked. The product is these two." More talk about the experiment. What experiment? "I know it broke, but it still worked. Now, introduce yourselves, and we can start on what they came for."  
"What did we come for?" Amy asked, but was ignored.  
Tony started, "I'm Tony Stark, otherwise known as Iron Man." he paused, as if waiting for them to be shocked. "Wait, why don't they know who I am?" he asked, turning to the rest of the group.  
"I told you, the experiment worked. They're from somewhere else. I'm not sure where, but maybe they don't know about you in England in their time period."  
The blonde guy cut in before they could say more, "I'm Steve Rogers, nice to meet you." he held out a hand, which they shook. "Also, I'm Captain America."  
Everyone introduced themselves, Bruce Banner (the Hulk), Clint Barton (Hawkeye), and Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow).  
"And I'm the Doctor, nice to meet you all." the Doctor smiled.  
Tony snorted, "Why'd the Cannon bring us some weird sci-fi loving nerd." he asked. Steve joined in laugh as well.  
"What do you mean?" the Doctor was confused. He hated it when people laughed at him. A sci-fi loving nerd? What?  
"The Doctor Who TV show. You know? The whole 'I'm the Doctor' business. We look for the world's smartest and we get you, who can't even come up with a clever alias for yourself." Tony said, rudely.  
"Tony, I think they might be from a different time period. Maybe it's just a conincidence." Steve said. Okay, Amy was so confused. A TV show? Was she in it?  
"No, there never was and never will be a TV show about me. I have know idea- wait." he paused, then snapped his fingers. "Stupid me." he mumbled. "We're in an alternate universe. Pond, this is brilliant!"

* * *

Everything was in a haze when John opened his eyes. He remembered the earthquake. Something weird had happened. He didn't process the fact that there was an earthquake at all as strange because his undivided attention was on what happened_ during_ the earthquake. There had been white. Everywhere. And before the earthquake, the temperature had been really hot. Like the temperature had been building up around _them_. A quick shudder ran through John's body at the thought. He remembered Sherlock, then everyone else at the crime scene. What had happened to the rest of them? Better yet, what had happened to _him_? Was he dead? Had he been crushed by the ceiling in that freak earthquake and died? Was he in heaven?  
John opened his eyes. White. That was a ceiling. Light streamed in from somewhere. Windows, probably. John shook head head to clear it. Did heaven even have windows? Sherlock would probably scold him for that. Of course he wasn't dead. He tried to sit up and found Sherlock sitting next to him. "We're in New Mexico." was the first thing he said.

John and Sherlock stood. They took in their surroundings, Sherlock made sure he took in every little detail. As he had told John, he was pretty sure they were in New Mexico. Had they been kidnapped? And what was with that earthquake? There were no bruises or anything on John or him that suggested they had been knocked out by falling debris. This made no logical sense whatsoever. He hated being as confused as he was now. Before they could do anything, a deep voice cried out, "Hey, who are you?" They turned. A man with shoulder length blonde hair and bulging muscles, wearing a ridiculous suit of armor and a cape, came storming over to them. He reached out a hand to one side and a hammer met his hand.  
John and Sherlock would have been afraid, but they were both thinking too much to be. Sherlock was pondering who this man was, how they had gotten there, and what obvious weaknesses this man was showing that they could use to their advantage. John, on the other hand, was wide eyed at this man. He knew him. He was unmistakable, so it was John who spoke before the man reached them. "Hey, you're Thor." he said, surprisingly sounding excited. "The comic book character."

Thor stopped in mid-stride. A comic book character? "What?" he said. He almost dropped his hammer, he was so surprised. "A comic book character?"

"Yeah! You're Thor! I have all of the vintage comic books. Oh my gosh, when I was a kid that was all I read! I had the hammer and everything. For weeks, I tried to do that trick you did until my parents finally convinced me I couldn't." John started blabbing. "Those special effects were amazing! How did you do it?"  
Thor stood there dumbfounded. "What?" was all he could manage. "I am a god!" he said, sounding rather hurt in his ego.  
"Right, right, right." John said, winking at him. "Gotta stay in character, I get it. So where are you off to? Some kid's birthday party? I remember I had a Thor. He was the best." As John went off in a rant down memory lane, Sherlock concentrated hard. He was trying to find some details about the man under the armour. However, everything Sherlock observed suggested this man was Thor. His posture was very straight. The posture of a soldier. His left forearm had small faded bruises running along it. These marks could be the product of bashing something with a shield strapped to his arm. He was obviously charismatic among others and did not like to have his pride challenged.  
"Enough! I will endure this ridicule no longer! Name yourselves. State your business and how you got in. I am Thor, son of Odin and you will answer me."  
"I'm John and this is Sherlock. I'm not sure how we got in. It was a weird earthquake, then a flash of light and-"

John was cut off by a cellphone ringing. "Hello?" a feminine voice from another room answered. A young woman walked in. She had long light brown hair and a pretty face. "Just a sec'." She looked slightly surprised at the visitors and placed her hand over the phone. "Uh, Thor, it's for you."

John's eyes lit up even more (if it was possible). "Who are you supposed to be?" he asked. "Jane Foster? Not a very good costume, I have to say. With Thor's, I'd expect more." He looked genuinely disappointed with her.

She shot Thor a look that said, "What the heck? Who are these guys?"

Thor sighed and took the phone from her. "Hello?" A pause. "Oh, greetings Son of Coul. What is it you need of me?" John bounced up and down on his heels like a little boy in line to meet Santa Claus at the mall. Sherlock was beginning to worry he was getting a bit _too_ excited about Thor. "Really? Well, I will-" He glanced back at John and Sherlock and hesitated, as if reworking his sentence to fit the situation. "...be over later." he concluded finally. "I have some...business to attend to."

* * *

**Sorry, it may sound a little repetitive, but I was trying to get my point across. I'm bad with Old English, so Thor might talk weird. Black Widow's a bit harsh, I know. And I'm American, so I know they're not that mean, but who knows what the British think of me? Chapter 3 should be on its way soon! I think I'm going to update every weekend or so, so yeah!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry this one's a bit late, but it was Easter Sunday so I was on vacation. Here you go!**

"So this is how it works," Director Fury began. Finally he was going to tell them why they were there. "We have this, dimension cannon thing. We made it because there's something coming. We don't know what, but it's big, bad, and it calls for an army. We don't need guns, we need brilliance. So we programmed the cannon to retrieve the most brilliant, bravest, and strongest of people to help. You obviously being one of them. When we tried to work it, it broke, exploded is more like it. We thought it hadn't worked. That was about two months ago, then you showed up."

"So you just stuck a vacuum through the universe to suck in all the smart people and then forgot about it?" the Doctor seemed upset.

"Well, then it makes sense that Rory isn't with us. I guess he didn't qualify and just got left behind." Amy said. No one else in the room, save the Doctor, realized Rory was her husband. Most people don't talk about their husbands in such a manner.

"And you didn't even realize you were forcing people through the cracks in the universe? This could create a hole in time and space!" the Doctor said. Amy agreed with him fully. How could they not realize what they were doing? Didn't they even think of the people they were taking? It could have killed them!

"We had someone make it for us. It was the only way." Clint said.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "You humans are so narrow-minded. Of course it wasn't the only way!" He groaned loudly. Amy heard Tony make another remark quietly to Steve about the Doctor Who TV show, making Steve smirk. Amy found it weird that he confined all of his sarcastic comments to Steve, and not the rest of the group. "So where is this dimension cannon anyways?" the Doctor continued, ignoring the obvious Tony and Steve.

"It's right over here." Nick Fury said, giving Tony the evil eye (literally, because he only had one eye.) He started walking away and the rest of the group followed. "It exploded when we used it, but maybe you can make something of it. The inventor, well, he's... gone, I suppose. He ran off after we found evidence suggesting he was in on a conspiracy." He shrugged as they enter a huge laboratory.

Amy would have focused on the size of the room and its slick grey metal walls, had there not been a ginormous thing in the middle of the room. When the Doctor had referred to it as a dimension cannon, Amy expected it to look like just that: a cannon. But of course, that's not the way things around the Doctor worked. In front of them was more of a rocket shape. It reached about one hundred metres or so in the air, and touched the open atmosphere. There was something that reminded Amy of a satellite all the way on top, and there was a full out laboratory attached to the base and raised a few metres. However, that lab was a complete disaster. Half of the controls were in ruins and the other half of the equipment was scorched badly, as if it had exploded, which it probably had.

"Excellent. Let me deal with this, and then we can get a move on."

"Move on? What do you mean, 'move on'?" Bruce asked.

"So we can fix the gap in time and space you all inconsiderately made, and Amy and I can hop on back to our own universe." the Doctor said, heading for the machine.

"Wait, you're not gonna help us?" Bruce said, furrowing his brow. "We went to all this extent to get you here and you're going to leave?"

"Eh," the Doctor shrugged, "We'll wait and see what happens. Until then, I need a fez."

* * *

It was night by the time Martha and the Doctor reached the city. Luckily, once they had reached the highway it had been easy enough to flag someone down and hitch a ride with them. Everyone, they noticed, was American. So America is where they had landed. They thanked their makeshift 'cabby' and start wandering around the big city. It was around ten, but the city was still buzzing with nightlife.

They slipped into a bar, hoping that if there was something weird going on that could've brought them here, the people would be gossiping about it. It was very humid inside, and Martha and the Doctor found themselves gagging on entrance. They made their way over to the bar. There was only one man there, trying to serve five drinks at once. Some random stranger began talking to Martha, "There used to be another workin' here. Jack, I liked Jack. But he left this afternoon. Quit or somethin'. But that's okay. It's so funny to watch this guy work." he slapped his knee and took another huge swig of whiskey.

Martha rolled her eyes, but decided she might as well continue to talk to this man, to see what he knew. "So I'm from, er, out of town, and I was wondering what the gossip around here is."

The man's eyes lit up at this. Apparently, he loved to tell gossip. "Well, they say the Avengers are working on somethin' really big. No one knows what, but it's big."

"The Avengers?" Martha asked. That name didn't sound familiar. Maybe it was an American thing. Like a TV show or something.

"Oh, that's the fancy name for those people who saved the world last few times around. Ya know, Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk." After seeing her blank expression, he shrugged. "Guess a year isn't enough time for news to travel to England. Well, I'd go to Avengers Tower if you want the nitty gritty details."

Martha thanked him and turned back to the Doctor, who had just finished talking with another man. "Ever heard of the Avengers?" she asked.

The Doctor furrowed his brow. "There's no such thing, I'm sure."

"Well, then let's go to Avengers Tower." Martha suggested. "That sounds pretty different. Do you think there could be some big bad connected to it?"

"Well, it's worth a shot."

* * *

Tony and Steve stood next to each other on the roof. They leaned against the railing that separated them from the Cannon. They had wandered up there while waiting for the weird Doctor Who man to fix the Cannon. From their viewpoint, if they looked down, they could see right into the lab, all the way to the Doctor working on the cannon. If they looked up, they could see the night sky ablaze with stars burning brightly. And if they looked out to the horizon, they could, after a few hundred acres of trees, see the Hudson River. It sparkled in the starlight. They were waiting in silence. Silence was a blessing in their field of work, so they basked in it, gladly. There wasn't much to do at the moment. The Doctor was working on the dimension cannon, so everyone else was really just left waiting around. "Do you think he'll be able to fix it?" Tony asked, breaking the silence.

"I don't know." Steve answered. "Do you really think we can trust him?"

Tony smirked, "Trust me, I'm the Doctor." he quoted.

"Rule Number One: The Doctor lies." Steve retorted. They both chuckled at that, realizing they were both pretty much nerds. Although Steve had been frozen before the show was created, Doctor Who had pretty much been going on forever, so it was easy for the two men to discuss. "Don't you think it's weird that the cannon only brought two people, neither of which are helping us?" Steve continued, trying to remain focused. "I thought we programmed it right. It was supposed to bring as many as it could."

"Maybe that is as many as it could." Tony noted. "Though that would be really stupid."

* * *

Happily, with a fez on his head, the Doctor began to examine the scorched remains of the dimension cannon. "Why are you wearing a fez?" Romanoff asked.

"Fezzes are cool." he replied.

"Yeah, right."

Natasha found it rather creepy that Doctor Who actually existed. She had never seen the show before herself, but she had heard enough about it. According to the show, the Doctor wasn't human. He was an alien from another planet. Sure, she would believe that any day, with proof, that is. Bruce would gladly help her run a test or two if she asked. She smirked, deciding she might as well. She walked up to the Doctor and peered over his shoulder. "Hey," she cooed in his ear, shooting tingles down his spine. She ran her fingers through his hair, grabbing on to one of the strands and yanking.

The Doctor yelped and cringed away. He turned to her, rubbing the spot on his head now with slightly less hair. "What was that for?"

"For science." she whispered, kissing him on the cheek and strutting off.

The Doctor rubbed the extra lipstick off his cheek and shook his head. Gingers, he thought, they just couldn't keep their hands to themselves. He began to examine more closely the dimension cannon, now that all distractions had left him. These controls seemed a little high tech for, what?, the 21 century? He realized he didn't even know the year. He hadn't even been outside yet. Shaking it off, he decided they'd do that later. Now, for the machine. Well, he observed, the machine seemed pretty big to have a capacity of only two people. But of course, it would take more than just a few hours, even for a Time Lord, to fix it, and then get a capacity reading. He sighed. This was going to take a while.

* * *

Avengers Tower stood overlooking the Chrysler Building. It was pretty hard to miss, being one of the tallest buildings in the vicinity. It was thin, until the large balcony jutted out of the side with the light up letter A, the only one that had survived from the past name: Stark. Martha had seen pictures of New York before, she had even been there. This was new, but to everyone else they talked to it was really famous. It had been there for years, they'd learned. Maybe it was a different year. "Excuse me," Martha said, turning to a woman who was passing them by. "What's the date?"

"The third."

"No, like the month and year too."

The woman sighed, "August 3rd, 2013." and with that she walked away.

Martha turned back to the Doctor. They now appeared to be in Times Square. "That's what? 4 years after we left? That's enough time for them to build it and it to become famous."

The Doctor shook his head. The lights from the screens around them created a colourful halo of light around his head. "There never was, and never will be an Avengers Tower. This isn't the correct course of events."

"Then let's go check out this Avengers Tower."

The Doctor got out his psychic paper and began fiddling with it in his hands. "What's wrong?" Martha asked as they walked. He seemed nervous. He never seemed nervous.

"Nothing much. I just, have a feeling. Only the person I'm afraid of gives me this feeling." he furrowed his brow, looking straight ahead.

"Who could you being afraid of?" Martha asked incredulously. She didn't believe there was such a person.

"Myself."

* * *

The Doctor stood and brushed off his now oil covered pants. "Director Fury!" he called with the tone of an impatient child calling out for his mother. "Director Fury!"

The director walked in, "Yes, Doctor?"

The Doctor jumped down the flight of stairs that led up to his work space and clapped his hands together, proudly. "Finished!" he proclaimed.

Director Fury looked genuinely happy for the first time since the Doctor had met him. "Great, I'll call the team together."

After ten minutes or so, everyone had filed into the room. The Doctor stood on the raised base of the Canon and everyone else stood below it on the floor. The Doctor enjoyed this feeling of being high and mighty. Smiling, he began, "Well, I fixed it, but there are still a few things we must do. First, I got the capacity reading from the machine. It's built to transport at least five people. The actual readings are ten. Ten people and we only have two. Now the other eight, I have readings roughly on their whereabouts. Two in New Mexico, the rest in the Manhattan area. Where are we?"

"New Jersey. Just across the Hudson from New York." Director Fury said. "We can all regroup back at Avengers Tower tomorrow." he suggested.

"No, the others might be gone by then we need to get looking now." the Doctor said definitively.

"Agent Coulson went to New Mexico to retrieve Thor. I could have them scope the place out while they're there." Fury said. Amy was surprised when he said 'scope the place out'. It was a state not a room.

"Great." Once the Doctor approved, Fury left to go have it arranged. "We can split up to cover more ground. Tony, you're with Amy. Steve, you're with me. Bruce, you're a scientist, yes?" he said, taking full initiative. Without waiting for the other man to respond, the Doctor continued, "You and Natasha have to analyze the air here. When you brought us and the others here, parts of our DNA clung to atmosphere. If you find something, let us know. It'll give us an idea of what we're looking for. Clint, you and Fury get in touch with the New York police stations. See if anyone of them have gone to the police for out and keep them out the lookout too. Everyone got it?"

* * *

Rory wasn't so sure this Captain Jack Harkness guy was to be trusted. Sure, he had gone through the same thing, but what did that mean? Also, he didn't seem too fazed by the idea aliens had abducted them and sent them to New York. He had a lot of time to cope, he thought. But only two months? That might be enough for someone who was comfortable on the topic of aliens, but your everyday person? He would he have been abducted if was just your everyday person, he asked himself though. He didn't know the Doctor that was for sure. He obviously would have recognized him when Rory asked if he had seen a man with a bow tie, seeing how hard he worked to convince him and Amy that bow ties are cool. Rory smiled at the memory, but then scolded himself for looking at it like it wouldn't happen again. Of course it would!

"So you're British?"Jack asked, snapping Rory out of his thoughts. They made their way down the dark streets that were only lit by streetlights. It cast spooky shadows down alleyways and up buildings. They were heading for Avengers Tower. That was the only thing Jack had noticed was different from before, so he had been planning to sneak in for a while now. They were working right through the night, but it didn't bother Rory. He wouldn't be able to get much sleep, had he the chance anyway.

"Yeah. You're American?" Rory asked, trying to keep to the small talk going to fend off a gloomy silence.

"Well, I didn't live in America if that's what you're asking. I work for Torchwood in Cardiff." he said.

"Oh," Rory said. "What's Torchwood?"

"Secret Organization. Not really supposed to tell." Jack shrugged.

"So what? You solve crimes? That it?"

"Well, sort of alien crimes." Jack answered simply.

That sounded like a type of organization the Doctor wouldn't approve of, so Rory kept quiet and went with a simple, "Oh," in response.


	4. Chapter 4

The Doctor rolled up his sleeves expertly. All signs that he was worried before had vanished. Martha felt more secure with him back to normal. "Well, we're in." he said.

"What now?" Martha asked. She looked around curiously. There were guards at all of the major doors from what she could see. They would have to figure out a way to travel incognito.

"We find stuff out." he said simply. As if on cue, a woman with ginger hair walked by. She looked like a person of importance, with a secretary following her around and the guards nodding submissively at her. "Let's go talk to her." He fell into step beside the woman. "Hello."

"And tell Tony- oh." she was cut off from talking to her secretary and looked at the Doctor. "Uh, hi. Who are you?"

"My name's the Doctor. And you are?"

"Pepper..." she trailed off, not even sure why she was talking to this man. "No, wait. What? The Doctor? I meant your name." She hadn't been getting much sleep since Tony had begun to work on that project and this Doctor man wasn't helping at all.

"Yeah, he's the Doctor. Just the Doctor. And I'm Martha." Martha responded, following the Doctor's lead and flashing Pepper a smile.

She furrowed her brow. "Well, can I help you two?" The Doctor showed her the psychic paper. "Oh," she said, still sounding confused. "You're ... a priest?"

"Actually," Martha said. "I'm a Doctor, or will be when I get my degree."

The Doctor turned the psychic paper to face him. "Ah, yes, I'm a priest." He made a face.

"We were wondering who the boss was around here." Martha said. Pepper turned to face her. Once out of view, the Doctor face-palmed. "We need to talk to them." Martha said, shaking her head slightly at the Doctor.

"I'm her. Tony's not here at the moment, sorry." Pepper said.

"Tony?" the Doctor asked.

"Uh, yeah. Like Iron Man? Director Fury's out, too. You'll have to make an appointment to see them, anyway." Pepper said, quickening her step, assuming the conversation had ended.

"Director Fury?"

"Do they not have news in Britain?" she asked. Apparently, some of Tony's sarcasm had rubbed off on her. "Yeah, he kind of saved the world last year."

"I guess not. Mind telling us about that?" the Doctor asked.

"I have stuff to do, sorry. You can ask anyone, literally."

"Okay," Martha said. Well, they did learn a lot from this woman. "Thanks, anyway."

The Doctor and Martha turned back and started heading back the way they came. "If only we had the TARDIS," the Doctor said.

They stopped short. There was laughing behind them. They turned back around. "What's so funny?" the Doctor asked curiously.

"Who do you think you are? A TimeLord?"

Martha's breath caught her throat. The Doctor's eyes widened. "What did you say?"

* * *

Just as the Doctor, Amy, Steve, and Tony were heading on the door, something stopped them. A voice. It was unclear, crackly as if it were coming through a phone. Its tone was one of mockery, almost singsong-y. "Oh, Doctor." it said.

The Doctor looked up at the ceiling, trying to locate a speaker that could have projected the voice. It could easily be heard all over the building. He noticed Amy searching for the source too, but their two companions were frozen. Their jaws were clenched, their expressions were solemn, and their eyes were a blend of fear and recognition. "What was that?" Amy asked them. She had noticed their fear too. She saw that it was something big from the way they were reacting. The fear was spreading around the room like a contagious disease.

"Aw, you're so cute with your little search parties." the voice said.

"Hello, there, sir," the Doctor said spinning around, mostly directing his conversation to the ceiling. "I'm the Doctor. Who might you be?"

"Just like the TV show. I bet when people say that it ruins your ego." the voice remarked.

"Who are you?"

"It's Loki." Tony said, pure hatred and venom dripping from his words.

"I know you don't fear me, Doctor." the voice said. "But you should, really you should. I have a secret weapon on my side. And you have nothing but your sad little team of wannabes."

"Get out of our system, Loki." Steve growled.

"Hey, look, you're actually using twenty first century words like system. I'm so proud." Neither the Doctor nor Amy understood, but it was apparent that this remark irked Steve (and Tony) to a great extent.

"Well, I'll be off for now, but be prepared, Avengers. My secret weapon is greater than you can even imagine."

A small click echoed through the PA system. Loki was gone. For now.

* * *

Sherlock and John really did try to explain to the god that they didn't mean to drop in and that they brought here and needed help. They needed to get back to London. "Wasn't there an earthquake in London? That's the last thing I remember." John said.

The god and his girlfriend stood shoulder to shoulder, arms crossed, in front of the detective and the soldier like an impenetrable wall. "There hasn't been an earthquake in London, but nice try." Jane said.

"We're not burglars, I swear!" John exclaimed, tired of trying to explain it to these stubborn people. "There was an earthquake, then this big flash of light, and I woke up here! We need to get back to London. Check missing persons maybe. Lestrade probably reported us missing, if not Mycroft and Ms. Hudson."

"We're not going to believe you're stories, so stop trying." Jane said, firmly.

"They're not stories!"

Suddenly, a voice boomed through the room, "You'd be best to believe them, brother." it said.

"Loki." Thor growled.

"Loki!" John exclaimed, slightly too excited for the situation. Thor glanced at him, throwing him a harsh look. "God of mischief."

John could almost hear his smile, "You know my title well." he said. "As I know yours, John Watson."

Sherlock furrowed his brow and cut in, "How do you know that?"

"I told him." said a different voice. The voice cut through both Sherlock and John. It was a voice they both dreaded and hoped never to hear again. It was the voice of a dead man. It was Jim Moriarty's voice.

* * *

"What is it now? It's a Doctor Who reference, okay? I don't watch it that much, just with Tony in my spare time, which is not much, might I add." Pepper shrugged it off.

But the Doctor on the other hand was a different story. He walked up to her and lowered his voice slightly, "What do you mean, 'watch'?" he asked, She knew? But she was human and still only 21st century. How did she...? His eyes were focused on her with great concentration, acting like if he stared hard enough her thoughts would be his.

"It's a TV show. Now if you don't mind, I'm getting back to work, like I should have done a while ago." She turned to go again, but like her other attempts, actually getting away to work failed. The Doctor definitely wouldn't let her go that quickly.

"Really, I think it's best we talk, Miss...?"

"Potts. Get an appointment and I'll talk to you then."

The Doctor paused and let Pepper walk away. "What?" Martha asked. "You're not going after her?"

The Doctor waved a hand in the air dismissively. "Nah, we should probably check out this 'Doctor Who' show she mentioned and then check out these Avengers folks. See, I think I have a theory as to why everything's different."

"Really?" What's that?" Martha asked. They began to turn and walk the other way.

"I think we're in a parallel universe."

* * *

Amy, the Doctor, Tony and Steve snaked their way through the huge crowds at Grand Central Station. Tony and Steve wore disguises as to not attract attention, but the group doubted they would fool every person they passed in New York. They did their best, though, trying to go unnoticed. They went their separate ways out of the station, flowing along in the sea of people, not attracting attention to themselves, rather observing the public to see who stood out or who they recognized. Perhaps someone famous in one of their universes, who was oblivious to it in their own, had been brought. Then, possibly they could be recognized, but they all knew the chances of that situation occurring were slim. They split up once they exited Grand Central, Amy and Tony heading right, Steve and the Doctor heading left.

"So," Amy said awkwardly after a few minutes of walking in silence. "You're like a superhero, yeah?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"Then what's your super power?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well," he shrugged, "I wear a suit and I fight bad guys."

"The Doctor wears a suit and fights bad guys." Amy pointed out.

"Yeah, but my suit's much cooler."

After a while of talking, it began to get hot, so Tony took off his jacket. Any couldn't help but notice the glowing circle that was slightly visible through the thin material of his t-shirt. She thought it might be rude to ask what it was, but curiosity got the best of her and she asked, "What's..." -she motioned towards her own chest, but kept her eyes trained on his- "that?"

Tony looked down as if he had almost forgotten it was there. "Comes with the suit." he said simply. "Keeps me from dying."

"Oh."

"So, tell me about you." Tony said, turning the conversation in a whole new direction. "How did you meet the Doctor?"

"Well, when I was seven, he crashed-landed his TARDIS into my garden. He came back later and well, to keep it brief, we had to rewrite history, so basically he came back on my wedding day." Amy said.

"You're married?"

"Yeah. My husband was in the TARDIS with us when we came here, but I guess he didn't fit your machine's standards because he sort of just disappeared. Probably got left behind." She shrugged, leaving it short and sweet.

* * *

Phil Coulson knocked on the door of the home of Jane Foster. Over the phone, Thor said he had some business to attend to. Nothing could be much more important than the Canon working, though, so Phil was sent to retrieve the god and bring him back to their New Jersey headquarters where the Doctor and Amy Pond were. Jane opened the door to her freshly air conditioned home. Under his suit, Phil was sweating greatly. It must have been 100 degrees! "Ah, hello, Ms. Foster," Phil said politely. "Where might Thor be?" He looked over her shoulder, but only a hallway was visible.

"Hi, Phil." Jane said, smiling, but she didn't appear to be very happy. "We have a bit of a problem. Thor's over here." She held the door open for Phil to come and shut it behind him. She led him to the living room where Thor was standing in front of two men, one who was rather lanky with dark curly hair, and the other shorter, wearing an expression that indicated to Phil he was scared out of his wits. However, Thor didn't appear to be the one scaring him. Thor actually made him seem more comfortable. Weird, Phil thought dismissively. The two strange men sat on the couch with Thor towering over them.

"We found these guys breaking in. I was just about to call the police. I-"

"We do not need the assistance of law enforcement. I can teach them a lesson with aid." Thor interjected.

"But maybe you should wait before you 'teach them a lesson'." Jane argued. "Loki knew who they were. They might be important."

"I don't know what kind of trick that man, Loki, was pulling, but Jim Moriarty's dead." the dark haired man said. Phil was surprised to hear a British accent. "It obviously wasn't you two who kidnapped us, though I don't doubt you would have the power to do so. Loki is probably your brother. Younger? Yes, younger. And you-"

"Silence. You will speak no more." Thor shouted. Phil hadn't seen him this angry in a while. The dark haired man rolled his eyes as Thor turned to Phil. "These men are strange. This man knows me. He claims me to be a comic book character."

Déjà vu quickly swept over Phil. It was like the Doctor and Amy Pond. They didn't know they were part of a TV show. Thor didn't know he was a comic book character. Could these men be the subjects of the Canon brought to New Mexico? The dark haired man appeared to be brilliant, just what the Canon was looking for. "Wait, how exactly did you get here?" he asked, talking for the first time since entering the room.

"Well, we're detectives, so we were at a crime scene in the middle of London and the room got really hot. There was this big flash of light, and we woke up here." the lighter haired man said with more composure than before.

"Jane, put the phone down. You're not calling the police." Phil said, piecing everything together.

"What?" Jane asked, pausing in mid-dial. "Why not? You don't actually believe their story, do you?"

"Yes, actually, I do."

**Author's Note: I lied, the Doctor Who parts are set after Let****'s Kill Hitler. It isn't a part of this chapter, but future chapters. Also, it isn't _that _important, but important enough. :] Hope you're enjoying!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: I know this took forever, and I'm really sorry. I'll trying to be quicker on the next one, but this one's really long, so be happy. **

* * *

Sherlock and John sat in a helicopter with Agent Phil Coulson and Jane Foster. The chopping noise of the helicopter propellers filled the air along with the awkward silence. John was very much relieved when the angry man in the god costume said he'd find his own means of transportation. He was already very irritable. One word from Sherlock could provoke Thor into throwing one of them out of the helicopter. "Where are we going?" John asked, although he didn't expect Agent Coulson nor Ms. Foster to respond.

"Apparently, New York. No," Sherlock chided himself, taking in new information that contradicted his answer, "New Jersey is more like it."

"How did you know that?" Jane finally burst. She couldn't take it anymore. He knew so much without even asking, without speaking a word. Since the moment she discovered him and his friend talking to Thor in her house, that man's eyes hadn't stilled. They were constantly glancing about, taking everything in.

"It was obvious. We're taking a northeastern course, first of all. Major organization, major city. That makes our possible destinations Chicago, New York, or DC. Earlier Agent Coulson mentioned something about 'the Tower'. Towers are usually tall, skyscrapers. All the buildings in Washington DC are short, none of which one would consider a tower, much less give its name Tower. That takes Washington out of the running. Coming from New York to New Mexico, nonstop in a helicopter? Approximately five hours, maybe more. Chicago to New Mexico? Four, four and a half. Coming into the room for the first time, Agent Coulson was stiff. He had crust on his eyes and his suit was wrinkled. Four hour flight, he would stay awake for. Five, he would gladly doze off. And I knew it was New Jersey because Agent Coulson made it clear to you we weren't going to the Tower, but another headquarters. A headquarters that has to be close to the Tower, but far enough away that if the Tower was under attack your people would have somewhere safe to retreat to. See? Simple." Sherlock explain effortlessly.

Jane gaped at the sleuth. What else did he know? And why was Coulson acting like this man was so important?

* * *

Jack and Rory crawled through the tight space of the air ducts. "Is it much further?" Rory managed. He wasn't one to complain, but getting through these air ducts was tough, and cold. Cold made things contract, didn't it? Well, it was the middle of August and they were pumping the air up like there was no tomorrow. Plus, it was pretty dark in there. There was a little light supplied by where the vents let out into rooms, which were mostly office rooms.

"C'mon! This is fun. I've been planning this since I got here. It was so boring as a bartender. No excitement." he chuckled. Rory could almost hear his gleaming white smile.

He rolled his eyes. "Yes, and being in a crowded, dark, cold air vent is the funnest thing I've done all day." he said sarcastically.

"Now you're getting it." he laughed again. "Hey, I think I see a light up ahead!"

"Really?"

"Yeah. There's no one here. Let me just-" He let out a groan as he forced the vent off the wall. Rory couldn't see much, except for the extra supply of white light. Soon enough, Jack's feet were no longer in front of him. He smiled and crawled out himself. Jack pulled him to his feet. "Okay. Where would you say we were?"

Rory stretched out his back, disgusted by the loud cracking sound it made. "Uh, an office." he said.

"Yes, we're in an office. Probably on the third floor. Let's see who we can talk to, though. We can't get much higher without getting back in an air vent, 'cause the security in this place is supposed to be pretty thorough. Find someone, talk to them. See if you can get some sort of history on this place." Jack said.

Rory nodded firmly, then turned to go.

"Oh, and Rory," Jack said, catching Rory's attention. "Be careful."

* * *

Natasha paced around the lab. "Finished yet?" she asked Bruce, who was hunched over a microscope. Her boots clicked loudly against the floor, being the only noise in the room besides her constant nagging.

Bruce straightened, "Yes, actually. Thank you for being so patient."

Natasha rolled her eyes. "Well? What is it, then?" she urged. The more she thought about the subject, the more it bothered her, and with so much time to think about it, it really was beginning to get on her nerves.

He shook his head, "You're not going to believe it." he muttered. "Just, uh, look." He clicked a few keys on his laptop, making the microscope image full screen. "See, there," He pointed to the gravelly image on the screen. "It _looks_ like human DNA, but it has none of the right characteristics. No Adenine, Thymine, Cytosine, or Guanine. Random chemicals. Some that I couldn't even identify. My DNA looks more human than that. It's a small sample, yeah, but a monkey without a brain could see that that's not human." He shook his head again. "It's official. He's not human."

Natasha stood there stunned. "You must have done something wrong. You probably mixed up the DNA. I'll go get you another sample when he gets back."

"Romanoff," Bruce said firmly. "I didn't mix up the DNA. I couldn't have. Nothing on Earth has DNA like this."

"Okay, if he's an alien - and only _if_, I'm not saying he is - then how can we trust him? He could be a terrorist trying to destroy Earth. Think about it. He's leading some of the only people who can help Earth if it's attacked away from base into what might be a trap for all we know." she said.

Bruce removed his glasses, lowered his chin, and studied her face, "But if he's not the threat he could be the only person who could help us right now."

"Is that really a risk you're willing to take?"

* * *

Pepper sipped her coffee and pushed open the door to her office. She had definitely been overworking herself these past few months and with Tony disappearing all of the sudden a few days ago, she didn't know if she could handle it much longer. Tony owed her a vacation to a nice private island. A getaway, just her and him. Maybe the Virgin Isla-

Pepper leaped back and almost spilled her coffee all over herself. In her desk chair with his feet up on the desktop sat the man who had annoyed her about the Doctor Who reference before and his girlfriend who was leaning on the desk. "Oh my- what are you _doing_ here?" she practically screamed.

"Oh, hello." said the man who referred to himself as the Doctor casually, noticing her for the first time. Apparently, before Pepper had entered the room, they had been lost in deep conversation. He set his feet down on the ground and smiled at her. "We got an appointment...sort of."

"Who are you people?" Pepper asked, exasperated. "Why won't you just leave me-"

All three of them were thrown to the floor as a catastrophic boom ripped through the building. Pepper screamed, hot coffee falling all over her. But the coffee was the least of her worries. Chunks of the ceiling crashed down, missing her by inches. She smelled smoke. She heard the Doctor yelling. If he was yelling to her, she didn't care or take the liberty to respond. She promptly picked herself up and dashed about to find somewhere safe, but no such place was evident. Debris was dropping from the ceiling, leaving no safe place. Anywhere she stood she was at risk of being crushed.

Before she could think of what to do, Pepper felt another hand grip hers. It was the Doctor's hand. She would have been freaked out, but she needed a hand to lead her out of here. "Run." the Doctor ordered as they began to sprint for the door. The woman followed close at their heels.

Someone stood in the doorway, Pepper noticed. It was a woman. Her wild curls flew in the breeze, being provided by the gaping holes in the ceiling. The woman smiled with her eye trained on the Doctor. Her eyes said she knew him, had been missing him, but looking to the Doctor, Pepper saw no recognition in his eyes, just a bit of confusion. The woman looked very intimidating, two large guns in her hands. The corner of her lip was upturned slightly, she was smirking, "Hello, sweetie."

* * *

Amy watched a column of smoke rise on the horizon, tracing back to one of the tall skyscrapers emerging from the prominent city skyline. "Uh," she nudged Tony, not taking her eyes off the smoke. "We're supposed to be looking for things out of the ordinary, right?"

Tony rolled his eyes, not yet noticing the smoke. "_Yes_, Amy."

"Is..._that _out of the ordinary?" she asked, raising a finger to the smoke.

Tony followed her finger. When he saw, his mouth dropped open. "Pepper's in there!" he yelled, catching the attention of some bystanders.

"What?" Amy asked. Was Pepper a person? Maybe she was his girlfriend or something. "What's that?"

Tony hurriedly grabbed something out of his pocket. "I knew this would come in handy." he muttered to himself, turning the object straight up in his palm. It was a small box, probably two inches by two inches. It was smooth metal on all sides without any openings.

"Wha-" Amy started, but something happened before she could finish.

The box began to quiver, the shuddering becoming more intense in each waking moment. In a split second the box was coming apart, locking the gadgets it exposed around his arm. The clamps crawled up his arms like tiny silver spiders until it had engulfed his whole arm. It then unfolded itself onto his chest, the never ending flow of clamps grabbing onto him like a secondary metallic skin. The next thing Amy knew a silver suit covered Tony's whole body. Light flashed over the whole body of the suit and it immediately appeared to be red. Amy gasped as even more metal hooded his head and covered his face. The next second he was up in the air, palms facing the ground propelling him upward.

"Tony, wait!" Amy screamed.

"Stay here!" she heard him yell before a sonic wave burst and echoed around him, shooting him towards the burning tower.

* * *

The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "You were frozen for _how long_?" he asked as Steve finished his story.

Steve sighed. He usually doesn't tell people he just met his story because first, it was pretty personal, and second, usually people already know. Steve felt the crisp summer air change directions and begin to blow into him. He inhaled, the summer air always refreshed him. But as he let the air through is nose, a putrid, smoky scent greeted his senses instead of the fresh air he expected. He wrinkled his nose in disgust and glanced at the Doctor who appeared to have smelled the stench as well. "Do you smell that?" he asked, ignoring the Doctor's previous question.

"Yeah," the Doctor said. "Not only that, but I see it too." He pointed at the silhouette of buildings in the distance. A dark gray plume of smoke rose slowly and ominously up from one the buildings.

"Hey! That's Avengers Tower!" Steve said urgently.

The Doctor dawdled on his feet as Steve began to sprint forward. "Is that supposed to mean something?" he asked, confused.

"It's headquarters! People are in there! Doctor, it's under attack!" Steve yelled over his shoulder without missing a beat. "C'mon!"

The Doctor and Steve began to sprint down Madison Avenue. They had been walking for a while and were at least a mile away. To run all the way to Avengers Tower would take a while and people were _dying_ in there. Who knew how many lives could be lost by the time they got there? The thought hurdled their legs down the road farther and faster.

"I know a short cut!" Steve called over the roar of wind in their ears. He turned a corner into an alleyway, which was blocked by a fence. Steve stumbled in surprise, but regained his footing and didn't slow. He scaled the fence with ease, not waiting for the Doctor. The thud of shoes to pavement and a slight groan were assuring enough for Steve to know the Doctor was following him. The soles of his feet slammed on the concrete as he willed his legs to carry him faster.

The wind engulfed him and he let the rest of the world fly by him in a blur. He almost didn't notice the thundering noise coming from behind him. He whipped his head around and glanced at the Doctor thinking it was just another one of his tricks. His eye widened, he took a double take. Behind him were people wearing black leather jumpsuits, and worse, there was no sign of the Doctor. His immediate reaction was to run faster, try to get away from these creeps. But then again, he couldn't abandon the Doctor, who had obviously been abducted. Steve knew his fate was the same, and he had to make a decision and fast.

Without warning or a moment to think the stupid idea through, Steve spun on his heel and threw a punch at the man closest to him, who hadn't paused and ran full speed right into Steve's fist. He pulled his arm back to slug another, adrenaline pumped through him, spreading through his tense body like a wildfire, but before he could swing his arm forward, there were several jumpsuit people on top of him. He struggled and managed to throw a couple off, but more continued to pile on, overpowering him and sending him toppling onto the cement.

His face hit the cement, hard. He felt tiny rocks press into his skin, only going deeper with the weight of the people on his back. He groaned and persisted in his thrashing. _But what then? _a voice in his mind called out. _What will you do once you get them off? Run? What about the Doctor? You could always leave him behind. He's probably dead anyways._

Steve forced the voice out of his mind and grunted in exertion. These people never relented with their pressure. Finally, they had him in a deadlock, arms, legs, everything pinned to the ground. The gravelly sidewalk poked through the thin material of his shirt and into his chest, along with his cheek, and through his pants. Steve felt a sharp alarming pain pinpoint the back of his neck, like a needle. It sunk deep into his skin where it was abruptly ripped out. Steve saw dots of color in his vision. There was a new-found ringing loud and clear in his ears that hadn't been there a split second ago. What had they done? _Am I going to die here and now as my friends burn alive in the Tower? _he thought sadly as the whole world went black.

* * *

Jack was trying to ask someone something when a deafening boom cut through the air. The sound was followed by a blinding light and a jolt pulsing through the hallway, knocking him off his feet. Then came the heat. It was momentary, brief, but scalding. Jack felt his body go limp for a second, but no more. His 'not being able to die' was pretty useful at times like this. He felt the life return to him just as quickly as it left and he sucked in a breath of new life. He groaned and picked himself up. A few people around him lay on the ground, their bodies horribly scorched head to toe. Jack couldn't tell whether they were dead or unconscious.

Jack inhaled the smoky air sharply as he remembered his partner, Rory. "Rory!" he shouted. He had been standing closest to the explosion, so Rory had a better chance of saving his skin. If Rory wasn't around here, he couldn't be half as bad as the rest of these poor people. "Rory!" He ran through the bodies, turning people over to see if they were Rory. "Rory!" he yelled.

Jack jumped back as a huge chunk of ceiling ripped out of place and crashed onto the floor. "Rory!" Jack yelled, realizing how desperate the situation actually was. If he didn't find his friend soon, there was a good chance he would get crushed by debris. He could have sworn Rory was in the hallway when the bomb went off, but he still couldn't find him.

He reached the flight of stairs at the end of the hallway, and felt defeat rise up in the pit of his stomach. He glanced down the stairs, catching sight of a familiar vest. Rory must have fallen down the stairs. "Rory!" he cried in joy as he rolled his completely unsinged friend onto his back. He must have taken the tumble before the flames had a chance to touch him.

Rory looked up at him groggily. "Rory, we have to get out of here." he said, losing the joy, and getting serious. They could die at any moment. Well,_ Rory_ could die at any moment. Jack had a free ride. "The ceiling is falling!"

Rory took Jack's extended hand to help himself up as Jack tried to formulate an escape route. Down the rest of the stairs, people scrambled away from falling (and some flaming) debris. It was complete chaos. Rory rubbed his head and began to make his descent down the stairs. Jack saw it before he did and pulled him back. "No!" he yelled over the screams to no one in particular as the whole room erupted in flames.

* * *

The Doctor, Martha, and Pepper stayed right at the woman's heels. They didn't even know her name, yet they were willingly placing their lives in her hands. The woman's hair bounced up and down as she jogged along, dodging now flaming pieces of debris. "You don't know who I am yet, do you?" the woman called over her shoulder.

The Doctor's head shot up. Even though she hadn't specified the question was for him, he could tell it was. "No. Should I?" he replied, feeling the heat of the flaming building on his face. It bothered him that she had said 'yet'. What did that mean? What did she know that he didn't?

The woman's shoulders raised in a shrug. The Doctor could almost hear her smirk, "Spoilers." she said, her words barely audible.

Another thunderous explosion rung out. It was close. It had come from behind them. Pepper turned. "My office!" she exclaimed as she saw the roaring flames floating out of the door, teeming with indecision. Should it burn the hallway or contain itself to the office?

The Doctor noticed Martha roll her eyes, "Yes, because the building burning with us inside isn't horrible at all." she muttered.

They had reached a stairwell. The woman was leading them down. That might work, the Doctor thought, but their route was bound to get blocked along the way. What then? The stairwell was narrow and solitary. They had to go down single file, the woman leading, and the Doctor bringing up the rear. It smelled like must and smoke in this confined space, so they went quickly.

They came to a landing. Adrenaline made the Doctor want to continue. Continue and get everyone out. He could _not_ let Martha die in here. He already almost killed her on the spaceship, and that was not happening again. He felt sweat on his brow. The heat was growing intense.

The woman in front of them halted. Tongues of fires blockaded the stairwell, and they were only on the fortieth floor. They still had a long way to go and no way to get there. The woman was determined though. She led them through the door to the actual floor. Cubicles with computers on them lay askew all across the large room, some were even toppled. Several bodies lay unmoving on the floor, scorched. The Doctor felt horrible looking at them, and found himself racking his brain, searching for a way he could have saved these innocent people. There was another door marked 'Stairwell' across the length of the room.

Suddenly, the door they were headed for flew open on its own. The woman gasped. The Doctor froze. His jaw dropped. Two men sprinted out of the door, one of which was Captain Jack Harkness.

* * *

_(a few seconds prior)_

Fire had engulfed the room before Jack had time to react. "No!" he screamed again, but it was too late. A grenade had gone off in the center of the room. People streamed towards the exit, but those late, any stragglers were burned. Rory and Jack watched in horror as people burned, as the sense of death crept up into their guts and left a sour taste in their mouths. Jack peeled his eyes away. There was no time to grieve they had to move.

Those people had died because Jack was too slow. He knew he could have saved them. When he blinked, he saw their bodies crumpled in the flames behind his eyelids. He breathed deep. He swore to himself that he would at least get Rory out of the mess Jack had pulled him along into. He didn't waste another second. He grabbed Rory by the wrist and dragged him along up the stairs and away from the fire. Their way down was blocked, so the only resolution was to go up.

Rory had finally snapped out of his daze and was now following by his own accord instead of by Jack's pulling. They ran up the stairs. They didn't want to go up too high, so at the next floor up, Jack swung the door open. No fire on this floor, that was good.

Surveying the floor, Jack spotted someone among a group. Jack was surprised to see anyone, but him most especially. It was someone he never thought he'd see again. A _very_ old friend. It was the Doctor. He was standing. Frozen to the spot. Obviously, he had expected to see Jack even less than Jack had expected to see him.

"Doctor!" He was across a huge room, littered with desks, computers, and scorched bodies. Without thinking, Jack started running towards him. A huge crash echoed through the building once more, wobbling it, causing Jack to stumble and fall. Just as he did, a piece of ceiling did too, only not just a piece. It was the whole section between Jack and the Doctor. Jack cried out to the Doctor, wanting to keep going before it hit the ground, but instincts kicked in long before that and he shielded his head from the debris.

* * *

When Rory followed Jack through the door, he had been expecting another flaming room, overlain with bodies: Another nightmare.

Relief flooded over him when he saw someone he didn't expect. River. River Song. The last time they had met, she had almost killed the Doctor, but from her face, even from far away, Rory could tell she was older. Fatigue was etched deeply into her features. The overwhelming relief to see him, as if she hadn't seen him in forever, left Rory worried. What happened in his future that caused her such pain?

"Doctor!" Jack screamed. Doctor? Jack knew the Doctor? The Doctor was here? Was Amy here? Had she been hurt? How did they get here? How did River get here? How did Jack know the Doctor? A constant flow of question barraged Rory's mind at that one word.

Before Rory knew what was happening, Jack was running forward, there was a boom, Jack was on the ground, and their way to River and the Doctor was blocked, barred off by a massive wall of debris.

Rory stepped back and coughed, trying to see anything, squinting through the thick cloud of plasterdust in the air. "Jack?" he called. He stumbled forward. "River! Doctor! Can you hear me?" he called through the wall. He desperately hoped no one was hurt.

He heard a rugged cough somewhere near the crash. "Jack? Jack, are you alright?"

"No!" Jack cried out, but not as an answer to the question. "The Doctor was on the other side of that wall!"

"The Doctor?" Rory asked, extending a hand for Jack to help him up. Had he been so surprised to see River, he had missed seeing the Doctor? "Did you see Amy with them?" he asked, glad to be so close to his wife, but worried, seeing how desperate the situation was.

"Amy? I don't know an Amy. I saw Martha, though. I'm not really sure which point on their timeline it is though, probably pretty early. Martha's still traveling with him. But still, you know the Doctor?" the disappointment had left his voice, but not his face. His eyes wandered back to the wall of debris, a lost look in his eyes.

Martha? Rory didn't know any Martha. And Jack didn't know Amy? Maybe Jack was from the Doctor's future. Maybe in the future he and Amy had finally settled down. Or at least, that was what he hoped. "Uh, yeah."

"Really? The guy with great hair and a really strange fashion sense?"

Great hair? Rory didn't think of the Doctor's hair as _great_, but he definitely had a _very _strange fashion sense. He simply nodded.

"Okay, then we both know the Doctor can get us out of here. But first thing's first, we have to get around that." Jack said, determination and new-found confidence in his eyes. "Doctor or no Doctor. We can't stay here, you'll die."

Rory looked around, letting himself ignore the fact he said 'you'll die' not 'we'll die'. They appeared to be trapped. Through the dust cloud, he made out desks and bodies, and the door they had come through, but that was it. No escape, except... "Look!" Rory cried hopefully. He pointed towards the small air vent grate in the highest corner of the wall. If they stood on a filing cabinet, it was an easy reach.

Jack followed him and clapped him on the shoulder. "Nice work."

* * *

"Did you see that?" River cried. She had hoped beyond hope it really was Rory. Because Rory meant the Doctor. The Doctor could help her. The Doctor, on the other hand, meant a paradox. And with her current situation, a paradox was the last thing she needed. Still, it was a relief to see her father. Something inside her doubted it was really him. The two doctors wouldn't be in the same place at once, but how else would Rory get here? Was he a hallucination? Was that what this had all come to? These questions caused a question that had been lingering in her mind for a while now to arise. How come the Doctor didn't recognize her? He met her for the first time in the library. But this, before the library on his timeline, was a scenario where he didn't know her. If he met her now, why hadn't he recognized her in the future?

"Yeah! It was Jack!" the Doctor answered excitedly.

River crinkled her nose in confusion. She didn't know any Jack. She opened her mouth to answer, but the Doctor's companion beat her to it.

"Who's Jack? You were talking about him earlier too, back in the 51st century." she said, sounding just as confused as River.

"An old friend." the Doctor answered simply, not losing any of his joy. "Now, we leave to find a way around this thing if we're going to get to him and his friend."

River opened her mouth once more, but promptly shut it. She was going to tell him who Rory was, but decided against it. If he didn't recognize Rory when he first met him, she probably wasn't supposed to tell. She smiled, _Spoilers_.

Pepper coughed in the no-longer-pure air, contaminated with plasterdust, ash, and smoke. "How?"

The Doctor started formulating a plan, but River found it hard to listen. She had missed him so much. And yet, he didn't know her, and she feared she would never see him, the real, current him, again. Lost in thought, River was brought back once again to her ailments. For weeks now she had been able to subside the fact that her chest felt like it would shatter into a million pieces with every breath drawn, that her cranium felt like it would burst like a balloon when she swallowed. When she looked in the mirror, her eyes had no shine, they looked cold and lifeless. _Is this what it feels like to live in the body of a dead woman? _she thought sadly.

"Got it, everyone?" the Doctor asked, enthusiastically. River wondered how long she'd been out of it. No one answered his question, so he took that as a yes. Smiling maniacally, he shouted, "Allons-y!"

* * *

The air vent was more claustrophobic than the one they had previously ventured through, not to mention it the air was pure ash. Rory followed right on Jack's heels, not wanting to spend an extra second in this tunnel. Heat pulsed through it like blood through a vein, so they were drenched in sweat within minutes. Rory heard the crunch of metal ahead of him and was then blinded by a flash of sunlight.

Rory blinked colourful blobs out of his eyes, only slightly aware when Jack's feet weren't in front of him. "C'mon, Rory!" he heard Jack from below. "You're going to choke if you stay in there any longer!"

Rory crawled forward, and was surprised to see they were on the ground again. Except, the ground leveled with his vision wasn't carpeted, it was concrete. Had they gotten outside? Last time Rory checked they were on the sixti- or seventieth floor. Nevertheless, he crawled out grateful for the spacious area.

He stood. They were on the balcony. Jack rushed him over to the edge. Looking back, Rory saw what horrible condition the Tower actually was in. Smoke streamed out of every window, and large pieces of the infrastructure were crackling and falling to the Earth far below. Rory dared a glance over the edge. They were, like he guessed, sixty of seventy stories up. It made Rory slightly nauseous to see the people like ants below. Rory shook away the nausea and looked up. The building was probably a hundred stories tall. How were they to escape?

Rory looked back towards Jack. "What now?"

Jack looked down at his wrist. "This has enough power for one teleport." he said, indicating to the watch sort of device on his wrist.

Something in the corner of Rory's eye caught his attention, making him twist his neck in order to see. But when he looked, nothing was there. It had been a green and gold flash. He felt sick, worrying it was another bomb. But something in the back of his mind told him it wasn't, so he shrugged it off and returned to the matter at hand. "No," Rory said. "We stick together."

"Really," Jack said, unlatching it from his wrist and holding it out to him. "I'll be okay."

"No," Rory said. "I'm not leaving you."

"I-" Jack started, but was interrupted by a gigantic cloud of smoke that erupted from the door that led back into the building. Rugged coughs came from somewhere inside the building. River was almost unrecognizable under all the ash and grime that dirtied her skin. She was helping along a woman Rory had never seen before. Her naturally ginger hair was darkened with ash and her cough made it appear she was having trouble breathing. Rory rushed over, wanting to hug River, he was so relieved, but knew he had to care for this poor woman first. He slung the woman's other arm over his shoulder and half-led, half-carried her back over to where he and Jack had been standing (Jack had already run off to the Doctor). Rory so much wanted to run over and see the Doctor and Amy (if she was there), but he had to help this woman, he _was_ a doctor.

He laid her down gently. "Don't worry," he said to her as he scanned over her for broken bones. "I'm a doctor."

She almost laughed, "A really doctor, or another crazed Doctor Who fan?"

He scrunched up his face in confusion. "Uh, a really doctor." Deciding to change the subject, he said smiling, "Well no broken bones, that's good. I'm going to, uh, go check on something. Keep on taking deep breaths. And call me over if you need anything."

He stood and ran over to River. They embraced. Rory was so glad. Finally, something he knew in this foreign world. "River, what happened? Why are you here? Where's the Doctor?"

She seemed happy until that last question. "The Doctor... is, uh,"

"The Doctor's over here, Rory." Jack called, waving him over. Rory craned his neck to see around the people Jack was talking to. As far as he could see, the Doctor was nowhere in sight.

Rory hurried over to Jack, "Where?" he said, desperation forcing its way into his voice.

"Right here." Jack said, looking at him with a confused look. He was pointing at the man in front of him.

Rory observed the man in front of them. He had very nice hair, Rory had to say, and he wore a pinstripe suit, a tie, not a bowtie, and on his feet he wore white converse. "That's not the Doctor." Rory observed.

"Yes, it is." River, who had now joined them, said. She seemed mildly upset.

"_No_, it's not."

"What do you mean?" the girl beside the fake Doctor asked. She too was British. "Of course, this is the Doctor."

"If you really were the Doctor, you would recognize me, wouldn't you?" Rory said, staring the ash-covered man straight in the face.

"I-" the man started. He had been trying to put a word in for a while now, but still was unable to, as River cut him off.

"Rory Williams, listen to me." River said, grabbing him by the arm, so he would look at her. "This is a younger version of the Doctor. The Doctor you know is already on his eleventh regeneration. This is his tenth. He doesn't know you, yet. Now, where is your Doctor? If he's here, we could have some real trouble on our hands."

"I don't know where he is. Or Amy." Rory said sadly. "We were in the TARDIS, and it started to shake, and I woke up here. In New York. I don't know where he and Amy are. They could be anywhere really."

River breathed a sigh of relief, but Rory could tell she had been looking forward to see the Doctor. "So you're from my future then?" the Doctor asked.

River unleashed one of her famous smirks, "Spoilers." before turning back to Rory, "Whatever you do," she whispered in his ear, "Do _not _let the Doctor meet himself. Do not."

Another deafening boom hit Rory's ears throwing him and River away from each other. Rory rushed over to the woman who he had helped before. "You okay?" he asked, but his voice sounded distance, he hadn't fully recovered his hearing yet.

She nodded, but she had a spooked looked on her face. Rory stood and helped her stand as well. No more waiting. They had to get out of there. "Jack! River! Doctor!" he cried, running over to them. Jack was already up, looking around frantically for the source of the boom.

Rory saw the Doctor and his friend laying on the ground closest to him. The Doctor lay unharmed, simply a bit groggy. His friend on the other hand had a huge gash on her left forearm that must've been from a piece of debris. Rory, always prepared, took out the medical kit he always kept in his back pocket. He wrapped up her arm and let her and the Doctor both take a big whiff of smelling salts. They came to with a jolt. "Doctor, we have to get out of her. Now."

Rory didn't wait for an answer. He sprinted over to River who also was lying unconscious. He waved the smelling salts under her nose. There were no major cuts or bruises he saw that worried him, but as she came to, she didn't look well at all. She looked ten years older and could barely sit up. The crash couldn't have done this to her. Something else must've happened. "Riv-"

A voice Rory hadn't heard before came from somewhere behind them. Rory turned. Someone was emerging from the smoke. They didn't appear to be hurt, or scared for that matter. In fact, they confidently strode towards the group. The voice wasn't speaking. It was laughing. A low evil cackle. A looney laugh. A _happy_ laugh. Rory had no doubt in his mind this person had no guilt for all the innocent people he was hurting.

All heads turned in the man's direction. His figure had become more define in the cloud. He was well-built. He wore something thick and tough like armour. A cape flew in the wind behind him. He had jet black hair that fell to his shoulders and bright green eyes. His armour and robes were now visibly green and gold. He held a long bronze sceptre in one hand. A blade protruded from the head, along with a glass sphere, containing a raging storm of blue light. Rory found it mesmerizing, the way the clouds of blue danced endlessly in that sphere. "I kept the helmet off." the strange man said casually, as if they were old friends at a high school reunion. "My ... _friend_ said it was a bit much." He flashed a gleaming white smile at the group who simply responded by staring at him in awe.

"Oh, I'm sorry. He said I forgot to introduce myself, although Pepper already knows who I am. My name is Loki, god of mischief."

* * *

Pepper forced herself to her feet. However, thankfully she attracted no attention. Loki's eyes were focused on the others. He had only acknowledged her as a side thought and only remembered to mention her when he introduced himself to the group. Pepper could feel her whole body shaking involuntarily. Her knees wobbled and she didn't know if they could hold her much longer. She led a shaky hand into her pocket slowly, keeping her eyes trained on Loki. Her fingertips brushed the smooth glass of her cell phone, and she wrapped her fingers firmly around it.

Pulling it out, she found Tony on her contacts and texted him: _On balcony. Help._ She pressed send letting all the hope she had left go to Tony.

"Don't touch them." Pepper heard River say. "Any of them."

Pepper had been so focused on texting Tony she hadn't heard the beginning of the conversation, but now she was listening closely. Loki laughed. "Oh how sweet, you want to save your friends." He laughed again, "And, you actually think you _can._" He walked across the balcony until he was standing over her and the man who Pepper thought was named Rory. They were both squatting on the ground because River was too weak to stand on her own. "Look, you're already bowing."

River clutched Rory's shoulder and slowly brought herself to a stand. "Never." she whispered fiercely, and spat in his face.

"Shouldn't have done that." Loki said, shaking his head and wiping her spit off his face.

Pepper felt a vibration in her hand. She looked down at her cell phone. New Message from Tony, it read. Pepper felt a heart palpitation. Her shaky hand pressed view. On my way flashed across the screen. Pepper felt tears of joy sting her eyes, but her happiness was short-lived.

A shriek filled her ears before she could look up. When she did, she saw a horrific sight. River had been thrown across the balcony. She landed on the ground hard, but that wasn't the worst of it. She struggled to get to her feet as a large flaming chunk of ceiling fell towards her in what felt like slow motion.

"River!" Rory screamed, getting to his feet. Loki grabbed the back of Rory's collar, stopping him in mid-run.

"Leave them alone!" Pepper heard the familiar voice of Tony fill her ears. Relief rushed over her as she saw Tony, or his suit that is, zoom through the air and collide right with the side of Loki's head.

Rory fell to the ground, but didn't hesitate, immediately picking himself back up and running for River.

* * *

Rory could barely see through the blur of tears in his eyes. Where was the Doctor now? Why wasn't he here helping them? Why had he just abandoned them and left them to the mercy of this cruel new world? He felt his world crashing down around him and the weight of misery set itself on his heart. "River!" he screamed again, not caring about anything else but her and the thought of the Doctor abandoning them.

After stumbling a few times, Rory found his feet underneath him and sprinted to her. Martha was already at her side, examining her wounds. "We need to stop the bleeding." she said.

Rory nodded firmly, dropping to River's side, "I know, I'm a doctor."

"So am I." she answered, but Rory didn't care.

He bent down to River. "Okay, breathe, just breathe. In and out. We're going to stop the bleeding. We can fix you. Just keep breathing."

"No, Rory. You can't fix me." she whispered.

"Yes, we can. Trust me."

"No you can't!" River said, her voice cracking from the force she exerted.

"Why not?" Rory snapped, more rudely than he had planned. He just didn't see why she didn't believe him. Couldn't she just trust him? Didn't she know he would do everything possible to save her?

River looked sad, defeated. "I'm dying anyways. Tell the Doctor. He'll explain. Tell him ... t-tell him it took me out of C-CAL. I wasn't able to live. My body couldn't manage. I'm s-surprised a stayed alive this long." Her words had begun to slur together and she was taking short, quick breaths. She clutched onto Rory's hand. "I love you, Dad. Tell M-Mom I love her. A-And t-tell the Doctor I love him so, so much." She looked straight into his eyes. Sadness stung Rory's soul, as he knew what came next.

River looked away. She stared into nothingness. Her breaths slowed. Her grip on his hand loosened. She was gone.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: Phew, okay, finally finished. Yeah, remember that thing I said about updating every week? I lied. Updates should come quicker since school's over, but no promises. And sorry about the confusion with River and the library the Doctor will explain later!**

Tony attempted to smash another one of his iron covered fists into Loki's face, but his fist hit the side of the wall instead. It sent a shock up the building, and Tony worried it could buckle and come crashing down at any moment. He didn't let himself worry, though. If Loki was around, he was getting a face full of iron fist. Loki, of course, wasn't around to be pounded, having teleported off, however, and Tony could return to Pepper and her ... friends.

The suit unmasked him, and he ran over to Pepper. "Are you okay?" he asked.

Pepper looked devastated as she pulled her eyes away from something to her left. Tony followed her gaze, then understood why she looked like she was on the brink of tears. A young man cradled a woman, probably dead, in his arms. He was sobbed quietly into her. Tony shook his head sadly and looked back at Pepper. "You know them?" he asked quietly.

Pepper hesitated, "Sort of," she whispered back. "It's a very long story." Her eyes were red and she was covered with ash. Her ginger hair had been turned gray with soot and ash. She shook her head, "Can you just get us out of here?" she breathed, "Please?"

Tony didn't hesitate. "I'll get HQ on the phone. Then you'll all be out of here." He hugged her warmly. He decided to pull out his sarcasm another date; today had been pretty intense. "Jarvis," he whispered to his suit, "Get HQ on the phone."

* * *

The group was on the ground within minutes. Tony carried each of them down, then scanned the building for survivors. Not including their group, the survivors totaled to a sad twenty or so people. "That's about it." Tony mumbled. "A helicopter's going to be sent for you." He gestured in the general direction of the group he found on the roof. "Fury's going to have a few questions for you all."

He noticed the girl, Martha, glance up at the Doctor (Tony had to hold back a laugh when the Doctor introduced himself. Who knew you could meet some many Doctor Who fanatics in one day?), as did the man named Jack. The other man, Rory, came over to Tony. "Who was that man?" he asked without introduction. "Who attacked us on the roof?"

"Loki." Tony thought that would be a sufficient enough answer, but Rory looked at him with a blank face. "The man who attacked New York last time." That just produced a confused expression from him.

"Who?"

"Loki, stepbrother of Thor Odinson?"

"Like the Norse Myth?" The man looked even more confused. "But they don't exist."

"Apparently, they do." he answered, shaking his head. He wasn't in the mood to debate with this man or to bring him up to date on the news. Besides, he could hear the chopping of helicopter propellers overhead. They could just get back to their headquarters in New Jersey, discussing what they found in their search-

Tony was about to take a step towards where the helicopter was landing, but froze. "Oh shoot." he said, loud enough to catch the attention of Rory who glanced at him. "Amy."

* * *

Rory had learned to always keep an open mind when travelling with the Doctor; around him things beyond comprehension tended to happen, but when that man, Tony, had told him without hesitation that they had been attacked by a notorious figure from Norse mythology, Rory silently deemed him just the slightest bit insane. He decided it was probably best to ignore him and avoid him at all costs. That is, until Rory heard the name of his wife escape the crazy man's lips.

Rory froze in midstep, and spun around to face Tony. "What did you just say?" he demanded.

"This girl, Amy, I left her behind to come here."

"How- How do you know her?" was the next demand.

"Showed up in HQ with this weirdo who calls himself the Doctor, like Doctor Who. How lame. Anyways, they, uh, were of some importance to us, so she came with me on a mission, and her friend, the Doctor went with Steve- uh, Captain America." he said, half of him saying it was no big deal, the other half worrying about how he abandoned her.

"Where is she? Where did you leave her?"

"What's it to you?"

"She's my wife."

* * *

Tony was forced to send for yet another helicopter because he didn't feel like carrying Rory all the way back to where he left Amy (and yes, it would take a long time to walk) and Jarvis called more suits to pull people from the fire. They flew over the city. People all over were panicking about the Tower.

Along the way, Rory explained how they got there and how he didn't know about the Avengers or Loki, so he and Jack, who had gone through the same thing, had come to investigate. "And so, I take it, that since Jack knew the Doctor and Martha and no else from here, they must have been taken like that too."

Tony, even though he knew Fury might not like it, explained to Rory the threat of Loki and their little project to get everyone qualified. "Amy and I were looking for more people who might have come like the rest of you, since the Doctor said it brought over ten people and we only had identified two. Oh yeah, and, in case you were wondering, this is a different universe from yours. A parallel universe. That's why everything's so different."

"I kind of figured that..." Rory answered.

"There! Over there! I left her on that corner!" Tony shouted to the pilot. He pointed at a street corner, but Rory didn't see any sign of Amy.

"Well where is she? I don't see her." Rory felt something growing in his stomach and settling on his shoulders somewhere in between panic and confusion. He scanned the roads again and again, craning his neck to scan the roads they had passed. "Do you think mobiles work in a parallel universe?" he asked no one in particular, despair joining his panic and confusion.

"She was right there when I left her. I swear. Try calling her, yeah. Set us down." he said to the pilot.

Rory pulled out his phone and began dialing.

* * *

They walked right up to the bench. Rory had his phone pressed to his ear. When the Doctor made their phones work all around the universe, that apparently counted for any universe because sure enough it was ringing.

"Wait," Rory said pulling the phone away from his ear. "Do you hear that? It's Amy's phone! I hear it ringing!"

They spun around looking at all the people trying to find the source of the ringing. Finally, Tony did find it. It had fallen under the bench an there was still no sign of Amy.

* * *

Amy felt as if someone had decided to play a game of two square and used her head as the ball. It lolled around on her shoulders, not getting any support from her neck. She felt her feet dragging on the ground. She fought through the fog that had built up in her mind in order to remember what had happened.

_ Amy watched the smoke rise in the distance. She felt so useless. Tony was flying off to save the day and she just got to sit and wait. Well, she did as expected of her for once, seeing as there was little much else she could do. She looked rather odd among the crowd if people who were staring, obviously terrified, because she sat with a look somewhere in between boredom and helplessness. _I wonder if Rory feeling the same way. _she thought, hoping that if he was that meant he was safe. _

_ Amy felt an uncomfortable pressure on her back. She didn't turn around, however, knowing that no one was actually looking at her; she was just paranoid. Or was she? She turned around, not an _actual_ look, just a glance to make her feel better. No one. Everyone had their eyes fixed on the fire in the distance. She smiled, amused that part of her actually believed someone was watching her. She leaned back on the park bench, relaxing. _

_ Well, she was relax just as much as one can relax on a hard, plastic park bench, knowing their chaperone just flew straight into a burning building, leaving them stranded in a strange city in a foreign country. Her relaxation spanned for approximately ten seconds before a tap on the shoulder brought Amy's whole world tumbling into blackness._

The back of her eyelids ignited with bright oranges and yellows. Somewhere from the world beyond her closed eyes there was light, but it was gone as soon as it had come, leaving obscure purple ghosts in its wake. There was a horrible bumping against her feet that was definitely going leave some bruises later, but she didn't care. She worried about where her final destination lay. It could quite possibly be accompanied by certain death. The bumping ceased and a grunt met her ears before her head collided with the floor.

Amy moaned. Her head felt as if her head was being filled up with air and the pressure was causing her skull to burst. She heard voices around her, but couldn't make out words through her jumbled brains. They were coming closer. Two or more people. Closer, closer. She shuddered at the thought of her impending fate.

She felt a soft hand touch hers. She peeled her eyes open, and without her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, she was forced to face her captors blindly.

* * *

"Brilliant, throwing off the trails, capturing their little 'helpers' from other worlds. We have three out if what? Ten?"

"Make that nine. Boss killed one, but it don't matter, se was on her deathbed anyways."

"So their down to six, and that Martha girl and that Rory guy are probably useless anyways, plus hacking the PA system at their HQ and playing Moriarty's voice on there scared the short one silly."

"Their whole system's crumbling b'neath them and they don't even know it. Let's just hope our inside people are getting their jobs done right."

* * *

"We should get back to HQ. Fury's gonna be angry and Loki might be looking for us. I can send a squad out to look for her. Don't she'll be fine. Really."

"Fine. But call the Doctor I want him back by the time we get there."

Tony sighed in irritation, but was happy Rory had agreed. "Jarvis-"

"Already on it, sir."

* * *

Amy grimaced as a hand brushed her cheek. As it got closer to her forehead she flinched away as a pain flared up by her right temple. The pain caused her to close her eyes again. She forced them open. A hand came to rest on hers. She was going to pull away, but stopped herself as she realized who was peering over her: it was the Doctor.

* * *

Well if it isn't Thor again, John thought. As they flew in that helicopter he had been given some time to think. It didn't take a consulting detective to realize that this guy was a bit off. Besides the fact he had been wearing a complete Thor costume and showed every sign that he believed he was Thor, he wanted to strangle the two London natives for their lack of 'respect' towards him. There was obviously something wrong there. All signals John could see pointed to the fact that the strange man really thought he was Thor Odinson, comic book character and Norse Myth.  
Thor stood away from the group who had just arrived. Agent Coulson had led them in, but now they were simply waiting to be noticed. Thor was in deep discussion with a burly, black man with an eye patch. Stress showed in the man's features and every so often his good eye would glance in the direction of Sherlock and John.

If John didn't know better, he would have thought they were in a comic book convention rather than a legitimate government agency headquarters. Thor was talking to that man. That man seemed so familiar, John just couldn't put his finger on it. The weight that had been slowly building on his shoulders poofed away. He snapped his fingers. "Nick Fury!" The moment he realized he had said that out loud he regretted it. Thor and the man who John had identified as the comic book character Nick Fury turned his way. They marched right over. John felt himself stand up straighter. _You're more of a soldier than any here will ever be,_ a little confident voice in his head told him. But somewhere else in his mind, he felt a nagging sensation. _You're outnumbered 1,000 to one. _

"You," Fury glared at John with his eye as if he could disintegrate him if he just looked hard enough. "You said my name." American. John felt Sherlock's attention focus in on him.

"Yes, I did. I was trying to remember and then I did, but I accidentally said it out loud."

He nodded, letting the information digest before going in with another question. "Tell me, how did you get here?"

So they told him. Or rather, John told him and Sherlock nodded in agreement and occasionally corrected on something or another.

"So what makes you two so special? British, huh? What qualifies you to help save the human race?"

John listened carefully to what deep, rather harsh-sounding words left the man's mouth, but didn't understand. The man's deep and powerful voice matched his burly persona and would make anyone else feel unbearable amounts of pressure. But John was good under pressure, yet still he didn't understand. "Er..."

"I'll explain." cut in another man. He had dark wavy hair and wore a purple button down shirt. "But this might take a while so we should probably go to the conference room and sit down. He led them into a long white room that was occupied by a long table and at least ten chairs. The unidentified man sat down at a random chair, so John just decided to follow suit. He started a story that started with a threat to humanity, led to creating a dimension canon that brought everyone qualified to help to this universe, and ended with the appearance of a certain doctor and his companion and now them.

John paused for a moment after the story was over to see if he would add anything and tried to wrap his mind around the whole thing. Looking back on it, he probably should have used the pause to choose his next words carefully, but unfortunately he didn't have enough foresight for that. So he said, "Is that why you're all comic book characters?"

That earned him quizzical looks from everyone save Sherlock and Thor, who instead jumped out of his seat in a fit of rage. This is where the need for choosing better words comes in. See, had he paused, and decided on something a bit more intellectual, a little less broad, there's a chance Thor wouldn't have jumped out of his seat, reached out and grabbed John by the neck, leaving him dangling, tried desperately to escape the deranged comic book character's grasp.

"Thor!" Jane, Agent Coulson, Fury, and the man in the purple shirt yelled in unison. Everyone was on their feet now, that is, except for John, whose feet were a good foot off the floor.

John's face was flushed. His eyes darted around. What could he do? He tried to swat at Thor with his limbs, but alas, shortness comes at a price. He scratched at the meaty hands around his neck, but that seemed to make the man's grip tighter. He noticed Sherlock begin to kick the man repeatedly in the side of his shin. At first, the man ignored the kick, but after a few more blows, Sherlock received a fierce glare and fortunately the release of John. Thor swung a muscled arm back, but before he could release the blow, a voice interrupted him.

"A-a-ah!" a voice said from somewhere near the doorway. The new voice certainly was surprising because it caught the attention of everyone, even John, who strained just to look up. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, _brother_."

A man, who looked rather ridiculous, wore gold armor with hints of green and a gold helmet with horns, holding a scepter that was also gold with a blue sphere on the head of it, and stood by the door. John's vision finally cleared enough that he could make the other man out and he recognized him: Loki, he was in the Thor comics too. "Tell me, brother, how pointless would it be to bring them all the way here, then just end up killing them? Oh, right, it doesn't matter! You're all going to die right now anyways." He went into lunge, pointing the scepter in the general direction of his enemies.

John had kind of figured out by the time Thor had begun strangling him that these people weren't just here to Live Action Role Play. They meant trouble, but the appearance of another "god" only meant things were going to get worse from here, not better.

"Oh, yes, and I terminate you, I should probably introduce you to my colleague, Mr. Jim Moriarty."

John was now down on one knee, trying desperately to make it to his feet. He watched with a feeling that wasn't really terror, though one could easily mistake this feeling for it. But it was different. It was closer to anger. This man had "killed" John's best friend for three whole years, and now he had the nerve to come back?

Moriarty walked through the door. John was not only angry, but also confused. Moriarty had shot himself. He had seen the body. "Oh, John," was the first thing he said. "you're proposing?!"

John looked down at himself, then at his proximity to Sherlock. He was down on one knee next to Sherlock, practically hypnotized by the whole scene. "What?" he exclaimed, ignoring his headache and jumping up. "No, I'm not."

Moriarty interlaced his fingers, then put them up by the side of his face like a teenage girl transfixed by the relationship between two celebrities. "Don't try to deny it. It's okay."

John balled up his fist, but before he could throw back a retort Loki had already rolled his eyes and said, "Enough, Moriarty. Now for the main event."

He returned to his lunge stance and suddenly all John could see was a flash of light.


	7. Chapter 7

Sherlock drew in a quick breath. He was really here. Really alive. But Moriarty's appearance would barely get a gasp out of Sherlock. He refused to give him that pleasure. Instead all he would get was a calm facade. Well, almost calm. His face was flushed with adrenaline. John had almost been strangled.

John, on the other hand, wasn't as good at hiding his emotion as Sherlock. His face was a mixture of anger, grief, pain, and confusion. While his faced practiced contortion, his fists were clenched so hard they trembled and his piercing stare never left Moriarty.

After a bit of banter between John and Moriarty (which Sherlock paid little attention to, though he almost flinched when John suddenly jumped up and shouted, "What? No, I'm not!") and an order from Loki, there was silence for a moment. It buzzed around the room loudly, growing thicker by the second. It took Sherlock longer than it should have to realize that the buzzing wasn't just from the extreme silence anymore. That Loki's scepter was glowing. That he was about to-

White noise filled Sherlock's head. It was hard to think. Even harder to breathe. Smoke was everywhere. His eyes watered. He pulled his coat up to cover his nose and mouth and fell to his knees, below the smoke. His head shot up instinctively, one person on his mind out of the dozen or so in the room. John.

He had only crawled a few feet when his hand fell upon a boot which connected to a leg which belonged to the person standing over him. Their torso was lost in smoke, but Sherlock could tell from the shoe alone who it was. Moriarty.

* * *

John saw the explosion before he heard it. He was rather clueless as to what Loki's first move would be, but since he was working with Moriarty he should have been able to guess it would be something eccentric. A smug smile flashed across Moriarty's face, and the blue-white light erupted from Loki's general direction, blinding John and knocking him to the ground. A split second later a huge boom followed, along with some screams.

John sharpened his senses without thinking, as he was trained to do on the battlefield. Never let your guard down. That explosion was probably aimed somewhere, towards someone. But who? Anyone of them where worthy of killing. Sherlock? Hopefully Moriarty wasn't planning on killing Sherlock just yet. Who then?

Barely having gathered his wits, John crawled towards the head of the group. He had been knocked down, not thrown across the room, which meant it wasn't aimed at anyone near him. Hopefully, Sherlock wouldn't worry about him.

He was a doctor, he had to help.

Meanwhile, two others were crawling in the same direction, thinking the same thing. It was their duty to go help the injured, they couldn't just sit around and let them die.

Director Fury lay sprawled out on the ground spewing blood profusely. The target had been him, but it been hadn't meant to be an easy death. It had taken a good chunk of his shoulder, but he was still conscious, for the most part.

When the three with medical training stumbled upon him, they immediately got to work, trying desperately to stop the bleeding, but they couldn't do much with the materials they had. There was a very good chance Fury would die and there was nothing much they could do about it.

Tony had been thrown against the opposite wall during the impact. One click of his watch and the suit was latching onto him. The helmet came down on his face.

"Jarvis," he asked, a little groggy. "How's the injury?"

"On you? A little bump on the head maybe a slight concussion. You'll live."

"That's good. Now time to clear this place up a little. Jarvis, fans."

"Already on it, sir." Tony felt a vibration in the suit as fan unfolded and positioned themselves right next to his ear. They weren't big, six inches in diameter approximately, but it only took them a few seconds to clear the smoke, making no more than a slight purring noise.

After taking in the scene, Tony almost missed the smoke. It was horrifying. The table was on its side and all the chairs lay askew. Director Fury was splayed about on the ground, drenched in his own blood. The Doctor Tony had met at the Tower stood alert and ready, wielding a little mechanism Tony couldn't identify. It was like a fancy pen with a blue LED at the top. Three people, Martha, Rory, and the man who introduced himself as John worked over Fury, doing everything they could to stop the bleeding. They moved as if they had been working together forever, like clockwork. Bruce, Natasha, and the rest of the unmentioned Avengers stood in a group, brushing themselves off. The man who was kicking Thor before, Sherlock, was nowhere to be seen, and neither was Loki's, henchman, Moriarty. Thor and Loki were going at it and Jane stood by Jack both in ready positions.

Everyone was ready. Everyone knew there would be a second wave of terror. It was Loki, after all. And they were right.

"Bring them forth!"

* * *

The first indication to Bruce that they were in a much worse situation than before was a tremor in the floor. Then there was the noise. Thundering booms, breaking glass. He felt a nagging sensation. The other guy was ready.

The racket got louder, closer. A crack, shattering glass. They were here.

A dozen or so of them were through the door in seconds. Bruce felt a burst adrenaline. His clothes began to get a bit too small. There was a green tint to his skin. He felt his head brushed the ceiling.

"Hulk smash."

As he whacked and punched at the monsters, the human in him took note that they were obviously related to the Chitauri. Same basic anatomy and structure. Maybe they were stuck on Earth after Tony closed the portal and decided to follow Loki. Loki should've still been in prison. Maybe they broke him out.

Still, it surprised Bruce that Loki would have an accomplice such as Moriarty, who didn't seem to be around or participating in he fight whatsoever.

* * *

Rory was so focused on saving this man that he barely noticed the shattering glass falling around him. He knew his priorities. First, save this man. Second, live through this battle. Third, find Amy and the Doctor and go home.

He would focus on finding Amy and the Doctor a little bit later. He had to save this man. He wasn't even sure of his name. He thought it might have been Nick Fury, but then again he did think that he heard someone's name was Sherlock Holmes.

"I think the bleeding's stopping a little." said the man beside him. John. Rory was almost sure that was his name. He had been getting strangled by Thor before Loki stepped in. He made a comment about comic book characters.

Rory began to respond when he was jerked backwards by the back of his shirt collar. His knees and feet left the ground before he could blink. Something sharp slashed through his side. Pain burned behind his eyes. It creeped all through his body, making him want to barf.

Rory's mind went blank. His head slammed against the wall with unbelievable force. His thoughts went from a bazillion to nothing. All he knew was the splitting headache that was sending pain even in the dark recesses of his mind. Now he really wanted to barf.

There was darkness. It engulfed his consciousness like contagious disease. Any thoughts in his head or awareness of his surroundings temporarily disappeared as if they had never existed at all. The last thing he was conscious of thinking was Amy calling out his name.

* * *

Amy, the Doctor, and Steve sat stiff straight barely breathing. One of the men had come to check on them. They had been whispering. Had they been too loud? Every breath they let out screamed through the thick silent air that hung around them. The man's heavy footfalls echoed around the room, bouncing from wall to wall, slowly disappearing with no indication to show they ever existed.

The man looked his three prisoners over once, twice, and was gone.

Amy loosened up her joints with a quiet sigh of relief. Steve closed his eyes and mouthed a silent prayer of thanks. The Doctor skipped any personal ritual he had and went straight back to business.

"We can get out. I've had my screwdriver the whole time. The only problem is where to go after that. We seem to be on a high level. They always walk upstairs to check on us and downstairs when they're finished. We can't follow them down the stairs. They have guns. They'd shoot us before we made it down two flights. We need a plan." the Doctor said in a barely audible whisper. Amy missed a few words here and there, but they couldn't risk being heard, so she made the best of it.

"There's windows up there." Steve said, raising a strong arm to the semi-circle windows that bordered the highest points of the dome walls.

"But we don't know how tall the building is. We might just end up trapping ourselves out their." Amy interjected. "And then we'd get shot." she added as somewhat of an after thought.

"Amy's got a point. Anyways, who says we all have to escape all at the same time? What if we sent one of us to go get help?" the Doctor suggested.

"But what's the likelihood of just one of us escaping as opposed to all of us, though?" Steve asked. "If all of us go, then it's almost certain at least one of us would make it out."

"But what about the two other people who don't make it out?" Amy countered. "What if our captors aren't so nice after one of us is gone?"

"Okay, so only one of us will go. But where?" Steve said. "If the window's out of the question...?"

"Who said it was out of the question?" the Doctor interjected. "All I said was it might be a little hard. Not impossible. I do believe it's the only way out, though."

Amy nodded. "So that's what we've got to do. Unless anyone has any better ideas." She paused, waiting for suggestions, but none came.

* * *

Rory was only out for a couple seconds, but it felt like ages. He broke the surface of reality with his eyes flying open and a gulp of air. Adrenaline buzzed trough his body. You can imagine his surprise to wake up with little sense of what had happened, when he found himself in the middle of a war. He scrambled to an upright position, trying to recollect the events prior to his current situation. Sitting up just a bit too quickly, the horrid headache returned, gripping his consciousness, filling his world with pain.

Slowly, everything came back. Amy: gone. The Doctor: gone. Jack, Tony, Pepper, Martha, and the other Doctor. Everything came back at warp speed. First, save Fury. Second, survive. Third, find Amy.

Slowly, he brought himself to his feet with the support of the wall. He was just getting his bearings when a shriek split through the chaos.

Rory forgot his headache. His head snapped up. He was fully alert. He took in the scene before him, trying to get a sense of what happened. First, the monster had knocked Rory out. In the time he had been out, it seemed the monster had moved on to bat John out of the way, leaving them both for dead. Now it was Martha's turn. She scrambled away, unable to tear her eyes away from her impending doom.

Rory knew he had to act fast. He forced himself to his feet, charging the beast. His eyes were trained on his target. A bit too trained in fact. He didn't notice the debris from some explosion all over the floor until it came into contact with his foot.

His heart lodge in his throat as he free-fell for those long moments above the glass and debris covered floor. The tile of the floor wasn't the softest thing he could've landed on, especially with all the broken glass and ceiling chunks. He came down with a not-so-graceful crash and began his slide across the floor. He had so much momentum in his sudden sprint that his fall ended with a painful skid. Glass split his clothes and his skin, but his vest kept most of the shards away from his chest. His body finally came to a halt by slamming into something hard. Rory couldn't react. His battered body couldn't take it. The object he slammed into shuddered from his impact.

There was a roar that left his eardrums ringing. It was close. It took his brain a second to process what that meant. The object he had crashed into had moved. And it was big and strong and towering over Rory's helpless body. Terror crawled through him. Adrenaline buzzed within him, but everything he did seemed to go in slow motion. He began to sit up, but the monster above him was already going in for the kill. He was going to die. His first thought was Amy. He never got to say goodbye. And River. He should have gotten to know her better. And the Doctor. Boy, would he be guilty. _Serves him right too._ Rory thought as the beast came down on him.

Fireworks went off before his eyes. _So this is what it's like to see the light._ He felt like laughing because strangely, death didn't hurt as much as he thought it would.


End file.
